In 2018 I had traveled 200 miles northeast of Reykavik to visit the community of Skagafjörður (English pronounce as "soda craker"). There, a small factory known as Atlantic Fish exists and sustains a community of under 4,000, that has exported fish globally from the Norwegian Sea for hundreds of years.
A century old factory, Atlantic Fish converted to Nordic Fish Factory in 1994 in order to reinvent and sustain itself by making use of raw fish skins that exporters usually reject as waste, and turn the rich bi-product into highly coveted leathers. The idea of using fish skin as a supple and extremely strong material historically is rooted back to the 9th century when the Nordic people traditionally wore shoes made from wolffish skin.
Today the factory is one of the leading global tanneries producing exotic, fully chromatic fish leathers for high end fashion houses such as Dolce & Gabanna, Prada, Nike, Versace, and others. I had the amazing opportunity to photographically document the workings of this sustainable factory, highly opulent factory.
Remaining consistent in all of my work, visual juxtapositions are found between multiple worlds operating contemporaneously that may initially seem formalistically awkward. The photographs in this folio exhibit the ready-made scapes that I produced while there illustrating the ethos of breathing new life into centuries old processes. Formalist concerns construct these images producing digital realities that mix visual smacks with discovered slaps, one after the next. In each composition, I attempt to present an evolution of potentials that act as catalyst to kick start imaginations towards new territory. To me, these pictures are portraits of the inventiveness of found potentials having endless interpretive possibilities. Through this work I discovered found-ready-mades that speak to evolutionary processes as much as to revolutionary ones. Nothing is ever permanent in these parts.
Digital prints are available for sale in a variety of dimensions.
Sales will support future projects. Please contact me with interest.
A century old factory, Atlantic Fish converted to Nordic Fish Factory in 1994 in order to reinvent and sustain itself by making use of raw fish skins that exporters usually reject as waste, and turn the rich bi-product into highly coveted leathers. The idea of using fish skin as a supple and extremely strong material historically is rooted back to the 9th century when the Nordic people traditionally wore shoes made from wolffish skin.
Today the factory is one of the leading global tanneries producing exotic, fully chromatic fish leathers for high end fashion houses such as Dolce & Gabanna, Prada, Nike, Versace, and others. I had the amazing opportunity to photographically document the workings of this sustainable factory, highly opulent factory.
Remaining consistent in all of my work, visual juxtapositions are found between multiple worlds operating contemporaneously that may initially seem formalistically awkward. The photographs in this folio exhibit the ready-made scapes that I produced while there illustrating the ethos of breathing new life into centuries old processes. Formalist concerns construct these images producing digital realities that mix visual smacks with discovered slaps, one after the next. In each composition, I attempt to present an evolution of potentials that act as catalyst to kick start imaginations towards new territory. To me, these pictures are portraits of the inventiveness of found potentials having endless interpretive possibilities. Through this work I discovered found-ready-mades that speak to evolutionary processes as much as to revolutionary ones. Nothing is ever permanent in these parts.
Digital prints are available for sale in a variety of dimensions.
Sales will support future projects. Please contact me with interest.
Nordic Fish Factory, Skagafjörður
