Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdóttir

Jóna Hlíf is born 1978 and lives and works in Reykjavík. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Akureyri in 2005, completed an MFA degree from Glasgow School of Art in Scotland in 2007 and an MA in art education from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2013. Jóna Hlíf is the acting chairman of the Federation of Icelandic Artists.

Textual-based art and researching material has been the core of my artistic expression for years.  Through exploring text as “texture,” my works show how it can both support or dominate visible  objects (visuality), operate as a means of depicting thought and creating societies, be a foundation  for ideas, or act as a door to creativity and understanding.  

Recent works have dealt with essence, time, and the Picture (or the Image) as reflected through  text. In these works, words can be given new meanings and connotations, becoming reconstructed  either in interaction with the materials or media used, its context, or placement in space. Other  common themes in my works have been a concern with the usage of space, representation, and  depiction.  

I work with different media: Paper, photographs, video, sculptures, and installations. Media and  concepts go hand in hand and reinvent each other in a way that sometimes seems cyclical. 

Most of the time mistakes are neither ugly nor bad, just a part of the process. Everything happens  for a reason. The perpetual process of creating is rooted in uncertainty, and things don’t always go  as planned. But this can help by creating tensions or new paths which expose hidden potentials  and the unexpected. 

Jóna Hlíf has extensive experience in the fields of the visual arts and their management. She has worked as an independent visual artist since 2006, served as chairman of the Sculptors Association in Reykjavík (2011-2013), chairman of the Association of Icelandic Visual Artists (2014-2018) and director of Gerðarsafn (2019-2021). She has also served on the boards of Skaftfell, the Association of Icelandic Artists and the Reykjavík Art Festival. Jóna Hlíf was part of the editorial board of the magazine STARA, which aimed to promote discussion and knowledge of art.

Jóna Hlíf has established herself as an artist with solid knowledge in the arts as well as exhibition management, museum work and art teaching. She has partaken in numerous solo and group exhibitions in museums and exhibition spaces in Iceland and abroad. Her work is represented in the collection of all the major museums in Iceland. Jóna Hlíf has been a part-time teacher at the Iceland Academy of the Arts since 2013 and the Academy of Fine Arts in Akureyri since 2010. She has worked as an independent curator along with her own art practice since 2015 and co-founded Galleri Box (2005-2009).

jonahlif@gmail.com
Mobile +354 6630545
Studio space; Seljavegur 32, 101 Reykjavik

photo credit: Saga Sig