The rivers

Salmon nation in the North

Laxaþjóð í norðri

I am conducting an salmon oral history research about the relationship of Icelandic river owners with their rivers and salmon stocks. The Icelandic rivers and salmon have shaped the lives of Icelanders for centuries, and vice versa. The Icelandic salmon history has taken a dark turn in recent year, due to the open net-pen salmon farms found offshore Iceland that threat the existence of the Icelandic wild salmon. The methodology of oral history is crucial for investigating the human relationship with salmon, by exploring peoples experience and individual memories regarding the rivers and the salmon. Nature has no voice thus it is my aim to capture the voices of Icelandic river owners which speak on the behalf of the Icelandic wild salmon. 

written material

interviews

I was interviewed for the Patagonia documentary Laxaþjóð | A Salmon Nation – directed by Arth­ur Neu­meier 

Laxaþjóð | A Salmon Nation – Full Film

Laxaþjóð | A Salmon Nation – Official Trailer

Icelandic River People

Vatnafólk

Icelandic River People is an ongoing oral history project about the isolated lives of people in county Austur-Skaftafellssysla in Iceland before the Ring Road was finished in 1974. The project aims to explore how people in that area engaged with the ever-changing proglacial rivers from a water-centric perspective.

– The research is funded by Kvískerjasjóður.

 

Verkefnið Vatnafólk fjallar um lífið í Austur-Skaftafellssýslu fyrir komu hringvegarins. Svæðið sem heyrði undir fyrrum Austur-Skaftafellssýslu var löngum einangrað frá samgöngum á Íslandi sökum jökla, óbrúaðra vatnsfalla og eyðisanda. Í rannsókninni er sjónum beint að því hvernig einangrun sveitanna setti sinn svip á daglega tilveru sveitafólks á svæðinu fram eftir 20. öldinni. Áhersla er lögð á að fjalla um samband sveitafólksins við vatnasvið svæðisins út frá sjónarhorni vatnahugvísindanna. Verkefnið byggir fyrst og fremst á viðtölum mínum við fólk úr Austur-Skaftafellssýslu sem upplifði á eigin skinni einangrun vegna skorts á vegasamgöngum við önnur svæði – en söguleg skil urðu í þeim efnum við opnun Skeiðarárbrúar og Hringvegarins árið 1974.

 – Verkefnið hlaut styrk úr Kvískerjasjóðnum.

radio lectureson Icelandic aquatic history

aquatic documentaries

River Kaldakvísl

River Kaldakvísl is a documentary about my home river in valley Mosfellsdalur. It tells a story about a human-river relationship by conveying the above and underwater world of the river through filmed material of the river and oral history interviews with valley people from different generations. – Release date 2024.

Funded by Lista- og menningarsjóður Mosfellsbæjar

Brown Trout in River Öxará

aquatic visual art