Anna Júlía Friðjörnsdóttir ::::::
In December 2024 we welcomed Anna Júlía Friðbjörnsdottir to the studios.
Anna Júlía worked with the researchers Tracy Hill and Kathryn Poole to create ECHO LIMA an ambitious research proposal to hand draw and etch 95 copper plates.
The code EL, or ECHO LIMA signals a request, an imperative: Repeat the distress position. Here, the signal’s meaning is written in Morse code, formed by the alignment of her 95 etched copper plates.
Created during Anna Julias residency, each plate is a fragment of an image never fully revealed, a concealed layer of information. The composition draws from ancient Greek pottery depicting three goddesses, each a different embodiment of Nike, the winged goddess of victory. The myth tells us Nike crowns the triumphant, whether in battle or play, and presides over rites of sacrifice.
Communication is a key element of all human existence. Across centuries, we have devised countless systems to decipher, categorise, navigate, and make sense of the world. Language and symbols are familiar vessels of meaning, yet we have also built global signalling systems such as the International Code of Signals, standardised in the early twentieth century. Overseen by the International Maritime Organisation, this universal lexicon of urgency and intent defines numerous signals, designed to ensure clarity especially in moments of crisis.
The final etched copper plates used as unique original pieces in the gallery, the fragmented visual language embedded in the plates on the walls finds resonance in a three-dimensional form rising from the gallery floor. The three-dimensional cast plaster forms incorporate further coded imagery using the etched copper plates as an integral part in the casting process transferring the hand etched drawings onto the plaster surfaces.
The finished body of work was shown at Berg Contemporary in March 2025 – https://www.bergcontemporary.is/exhibitions/anna-julia-fridjbjornsdottir-echo-lima
Photo Credit RTPCreative
Photo Credit RTPCreative