Hamskipti in Einar Jónsson Art museum 2023

Hildur Henrýsdóttir 

Hamskipti 

Curated by Linda Toivio 

Einar Jónsson Museum, Reykjavík 

Opening: 7th October 2023 

Exhibition period: 7th October 2023 - 2nd January 2024 

The Einar Jónsson Museum is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a series of exhibitions: “Time, Existence  and Dedication: Metamorphosis in the Einar Jónsson Sculpture Museum in 2023”. The series opens the doors for contemporary artists invited to exhibit around the old master’s works, thus prompting new visual  conversations and exchanges regarding the purpose and meaning of the museum. Hildur Henrýsdóttir has  the honour to introduce Hamskipti (meaning transformation or metamorphosis in Icelandic) as the final  exhibition of the commemorative year.  

In Hamskipti, Hildur Henrýsdóttir is presenting a new series of works, marking the final part of her  autobiographical exhibition trilogy. After enduring the growing pains and turbulence of the two  previous chapters in Skin (Mosfellsbær, 2019) and Chrysalis (Berlin, 2022), Henrýsdóttir is evolving  and entering a complacent and untroubled era. Her new solo exhibition is an unapologetic self 

portrait, where the Berlin-based artist finds solace in feminine symbolism and Greek mythology,  after exposing innumerable vulnerabilities to the public. 

The exhibition’s confessional narrative unfolds through sculptures, paintings and a video  installation, found all around the museum amongst Einar Jónsson’s collection. In contrast to his  solemn sculptures, their stiffness and firm bronze or plaster, Henrýsdóttir is playing with the  material softness and malleability of creatures that are more hybrid than human, ripened for the  next stage of their metamorphosis. Hamskipti emanates her typical uninhibited approach, a  distinguishable penchant for absurdity and an affinity with self-deprecation. A silent insurrection  against societal expectations and authority, her radiant works shift the energy from passive to  active, reaching a radical form of self-acceptance and elation. The viewer is joining a somewhat  intimate journey in shape-shifting and shedding, on the spectrum of voyeurism. 

Screened in the large blue room, the video work is shot and edited by film maker Álfgerður  Malmquist. Realised in collaboration with Icelandic sound artist Sigurlaug Gísladóttir (aka Mr. Silla)  and two performers, Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson and Borghildur Indriðadóttir, it is activated through  the performance of Henrýsdóttir, filmed in the process of morphing into Alexandros of Antioch’s  Venus de Milo (circa. 150-125 BC). Gradually covered in plaster, she is slowly disappearing under  layers of the white paste. In this context, the sculpture, a symbol of classical beauty and often  associated with ancient Greek and Roman art, acts as an ideal but suffocating mould, which the  artist eventually shatters to break out of.  

Henrýsdóttir’s paintings typically mirror herself through the portrayal of blond, peach-skinned  women. In Hamskipti’s terracotta room, some of the ladies have surprisingly lost their hair - the  ultimate crown of femininity, as patriarchy would have us believe- perhaps signalling that they no  longer need it for acceptance or value. Some might also recognise Henrýsdóttir’s signature  arthropod, joyfully joining the congregation of misfits. In the past, she painted insects as a metaphor 

for her undesirability and shame, to highlight a distorted self-image. Today, neither the artist nor  her subjects could not care less, as external opinions and validation have lost their momentum. 

While Einar Jónsson rejected the classical art tradition, urging artists to unfollow restrictive rules,  Henrýsdóttir’s entire artistic practice is a rebellion against the tyranny inflicted on women, their  behaviour and appearance. Experimenting with elements of symbolism and Greek art, perhaps it  isn’t a coincidence that Medusa appears as one of her exhibition’s characters. Vilified for fighting  oppression, we now understand how she transformed from victim to survivor and from monster to  feminist icon. In Greek mythology, Medusa symbolised both aggression and protection, and as the 

emblem of female power, she reciprocated the unsolicited male gaze with severe consequences. A  modern-day heroine, some might say.  

Although some women have given up their hair, the sculptures have each gained a lustrous wig,  granting them an ever-increasing human appearance. Considering Henrýsdóttir’s earlier works, they  have metamorphosed from monstrous Louise Bourgeois-type spider ladies or headless crawlers into  personified entities: made of textiles, iron and found objects, the sculptures have matured and  grown in parallel with the artist. Having discovered a new sense of agency, they are no longer  recognisable. The crawling one for instance, after spending several helpless years without limbs, is  handed a second chance at life: self-sufficient, she now has arms and hands for support, her fibrous  tail invasively spreading across the space.  

Amidst Jónsson’s beautifully crafted sculptures, these over-sized humanoids claim their space  through a screaming colour palette and flagrant poses. Positioned in the yellow room, the sitting  one is captured manspreading on her repurposed vintage chair, manifestly busy and preoccupied  with some cerebral dilemma. She is an evident nod towards Auguste Rodin’s Thinker, the statue  notoriously guarding a Parisian museum and often used to represent philosophy, a discipline with  little room for women at the time. In the green room’s pale decor, the pink one’s glaring silhouette  seizes attention, as she is caught in the process of shedding her old skin, revealing a fluorescent  creature and leaving behind a vapid existence. 

The elusiveness in Henrýsdóttir’s works has vanished and they appear less fearful, moving from  dysfunctional mindscapes to an unexpected consciousness. Their more-than-human aspect and  rejection of the culture-nature dualism are resonating with the supernatural themes adopted by  Jónsson, who criticised naturalistic depiction, finding refuge in Norse mythology and Icelandic sagas.  Hamskipti is a contemporary promise of renewal and continuity, challenging the stillness of a  museum space and redefining the ability of sculptures to convey personal and universal narratives. 

Text © Linda Toivio