Portrait Now 2023 at Frederiksborg Castle
Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle - The Carlsberg Foundation’s Portrait Award. Read more here
Text from exhibition:
María Kristín H Antonsdóttir (1990)
IS/DK
Islænderinde i dragt / An Icelander in traditional clothing *Islænderinde is a female noun.
Photograph, Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta 325g , untreated oak, and UV70 glass.
96 x 120 cm
'Islænderinde i dragt' er et værk fra et større projekt, med tilen ‘Icelandic People’. Det er et selvportræt som er taget i min lejlighed i København, hvor jeg er iklædt ‘kyrtill’ og ‘skaut’ - én variation af den islandske national dragt. Denne dragt bliver ofte brugt i forbindelse med Islands nationaldag, hvor udvalgte personer iscenesættes som Fjeldkonen (IS. Fjallkonan). Fjeldkonen blev i 1944, forstærket som landets idé om et selvstændigt moderland - Et slags modsvar på den danske konge som en ‘faderlig’ figur. Jeg er født og opvokset på Island, men er flyttet til København i 2013, hvor jeg har boet siden. Jeg går på overbygningen ved Det Fynske Kunstakademi, hvor jeg bl.a. har været i gang med at studere et arkiv af fotografier af islandske personer, iklædt landets traditionelle tøj. Arkivet er en del af Daniel Bruun’s faste samling, på Det Danske National Museum. Eftersom at jeg havde studeret hans billeder i over et år, valgte jeg at dreje kameraet om, af mig selv - mod mig selv.
EN. ‘An Icelander in traditional clothing’ is a work that comes from a bigger project with the title ‘Icelandic People’. It is a self portrait, shot in my apartment in Copenhagen, where I’m wearing ‘kyrtill’ and ‘skaut’ - one variation of the Icelandic national costume. This specific costume is often used during Iceland's Independence Day, where a few selected citizens are nominated to represent The Lady of the Mountain (IS. Fjallkonan), which in 1944 became the nation's symbol of an independent motherland, as some kind of a response against the previous ruler - the Danish ‘fatherly’ king. I’m born and raised in Iceland, but moved to Denmark in 2013, where I’ve lived since. I’m currently enrolling at The Funen Art Academy, where I’ve been studying an archive of photographs showing Icelandic people in traditional Icelandic clothing. The archive is from a man who’s name was Daniel Bruun, and is located at The Danish National Museum. I had been studying his archive for more than a year, when I decided to turn the camera by myself - towards myself.