The photograph flattens out the world by presenting a three dimensional world as a two dimensional product. I am aware of this fact when I assemble shapes and forms through the viewfinder of my camera. It is a playful act, as I make my way through my day-to-day existence searching for moments to capture in a photograph. I then search for a fitting form for presenting the photographs. On this journey, the photographs have taken on the shape of installations and videos, but now become sculptures, the subject thus regaining its original three dimensional form. The topic of my research is threefold; The viewers and the points of view they are offered. The space, both within the photograph and the exhibition space, as well as the subject of the image in question. Thirdly, it is the process of the artwork itself; from the Gerður Helgadóttir’s sculptures that I photograph and distort and give new context. The result are my own sculptures, based on manipulated photographs of sculptures by Gerður Helgadóttir, which are installed in a museum dedicated to her.

The title of the work, Alterations, refers to this process of distorting photographs of Gerður’s works and then transformation of them in the museum space built in her honour. The title does not leave you with a poetic notion or a fictional reference, just this idea of the connection between my work and Gerður’s. The photographs take on an architectural form by blending with other materials such as the pedestal, referencing the sculptural element. Other materials in my sculpture are glass and black rubber. Glass is historically and mechanically linked to photography and that process. The use of glass also refers to the transparent negative space in Gerður’s sculptures and her stained glass pieces. The rubber refers to the black iron in her sculptures, while it is also the exact opposite at the same time. Furthermore, the rubber material has the role of tying together different components of each work. Contrary to Gerður’s sculptures, these fragments are neatly assembled, rather than permanently smelted together. Alterations is a collection of photographically distorted fragments of Gerðurs’ sculptures brought into dialogue of methods and materials, forms and structures of my own, with the aim of establishing the relevance of her works for contemporary art practice.