Roni Horn: Mother, Wonder

Description

In the south of Iceland is Landbrot, whose geologic particulars present a unique landscape. It is a place closer to fairy tales than to science, indeed a place easy to imagine as the singular source of fairies and elves worldwide. It is easy, too, to imagine the sensual comfort and satisfaction to be found there. Mother, Wonder is the eleventh book in Horn’s ongoing series “To Place,” which she initiated in 1989 and exists only in book form. All the volumes focus on Iceland and the evolving experiences of the artist there; together they form a flowing dialogue addressing the relationship between identity and place. The titles to date in the coveted “To Place” encyclopedia are Bluff Life (1990), Folds (1991), Lava (1992), Pooling Waters (1994), Verne’s Journey (1995), Haraldsdóttir (1996), Arctic Circles (1998), Becoming a Landscape (2001), Doubt Box (2006) and Haraldsdóttir, Part Two (2011).

In “To Place” the viewer is me and the view is Iceland. This reciprocity is key to this body of work. Each volume is a dialogue spun directly out of this interchange. – Roni Horn