Outdoors sculpture, text work, 2015.
Marble, copper.
The work was presented at the group exhibition Icelandic suffragettes prevailed 100 years ago, curated by Rakel Steinarsdóttir, a part of the Reykjavík Art Festival, 2015. The exhibition’s theme was reflecting on the event of the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in Iceland, that same year.
In the work the words ‘Everything’s different – nothing’s changed’ have been carved out and pulled back from a copper plate. The plate sits on a marble frame, in which the date ‘June 19th 1915‘ has been carved, followed by a dash but no end date. On that day Icelandic women got equal voting rights to Icelandic men.
The use of marble and brass in the sculpture suggests appreciation and respect for the achievement when equal voting rights were attained. However, the use of materials also suggests that the work is built to stand against weathering and other toll time can take. In fact, the text on the work: everything’s different, nothing’s changed, reminds the viewer that although things have changed drastically for the past 100 years, more change might be needed in order to attain equality of the sexes. In fact, the open date on the marble reminds us that in the future, other anniversaries will come. What then will be read from the text in the work? Is ‘nothing’s changed’ a precise description of how people will see their lives in the future, or will the message become obsolete? The text itself is taunting, calling out to viewers to do everything in their powers to prove it wrong.
A text containing meditations on the work, and an interpretation of its text, accompanied the work and was printed for the exhibition.