Children in Iceland

by Nancy Libson, Kristín Helga Gunnarsdóttir (Afterword)

Overview

An intimate and evocative photographic portrayal of children and childhood in rural Iceland.

Iceland is known worldwide for its stunning scenery and majestic wild landscapes. When photographer Nancy Libson first visited Iceland for a hiking trip some twenty years ago, she immediately fell in love with the country and its dramatic landscape. She vowed to return again, camera in hand. Beginning in 2015, Libson did just that, revisiting Iceland for four additional summers to photograph the land and its people.

When Libson began her project, she chose to get to know Iceland’s people and natural wonders in the small towns and villages, especially in rural areas. As she experienced this remote and beautiful land, she soon noticed the unique qualities of growing up in Iceland and her emphasis shifted from people of all ages to children at home and at play. Libson noticed that Icelandic children are granted an unusual level of freedom while living securely in close-knit families and supportive communities. She was further inspired to capture Iceland’s remoteness and beauty and its impact on the children who live there.

As portrayed in Children in Iceland, Libson’s photographs provide an intimate, thought-provoking, and playful view of the lives of the children surrounded by Iceland’s natural landscape. By photographing Iceland’s children, Libson began to better understand not only the children, but through them the culture and spirit of growing up in this remarkable country. Kristín Helga Gunnarsdóttir, the well-known Icelandic children’s author, concludes the book with her heartfelt afterword, sharing her enthusiasm for the freedom that Icelandic children feel from living with and close to nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938086526
Publisher:	George F Thompson Publishing
Publication date:	07/30/2024
Edition description:	Bilingual
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Language:	Icelandic

About the Author

Nancy Libson has been taking photographs of people and places with a special interest in rural communities for decades. Her solo exhibitions include “Small Towns and Villages of Rural Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and Canada” at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum, “Maine Villages” at the Wisconsin State Historical Society in Madison, and “Summertime Iceland: Light as a Metaphor at the House of Sweden,” which was sponsored by the Embassy of Iceland in Washington, D.C., and selected group exhibits include the Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle and the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland. Her photographs were included in the PhotoIreland Festival in Dublin sponsored by Cow House Studios, and her photographs of children are in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. In 2020 and 2021, she received two individual grants from the (Washington) DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Kristín Helga Gunnarsdóttir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1963 and was raised there. She studied Spanish at the Universities of Iceland and Barcelona and received her B.A. in Spanish and journalism from the University of Utah. A writer, columnist, and environmental activist, she is best known for her series of children’s books on the character Fíasól. She is a three-time winner of the Icelandic Women’s Literature Award and the Reykjavik City Children’s Book Award and resides in Reykjavik.

Editorial Reviews

If there is such a thing as a carefree, idyllic childhood, it is to be found in the rural countryside of Iceland. We see the joy on the children's faces as they play without a care in the world, where the family is close knit, fathers take their place in the sun, and the environment is the watchful neighbor in an Icelandic tale that is so wonderfully told in the loving, revealing photographs of Nancy Libson.

David Freese