The Source, 2014 | Five-channel video installation, 25:25 min, with sound





Amidst the stark beauty of an Icelandic lava field, two groups of women—one in Western black dress, the other in full-body Muslim attire—approach a steaming spring from opposite sides. Slowly, ritualistically, they undress and enter the warm water, washing and touching each other in a shared act of cleansing. The Source becomes a vision of intimacy, hope and reconciliation, where difference dissolves into sensual communion. The spring, both literal and symbolic, evokes the primal origins of life—a place where bodies meet, histories soften, and a new narrative emerges.



CREDITS

Camera: Dagur Ólafsson, Jónina Guðbjörg Guðbjartsdóttir, Ole Bjørn Petersen
Sound design: Nicolas Vetterli
Co-direction: Haldóra Rósa Björnsdóttir
Still photography: Ole Bjørn Petersen
Performers: Júlía Hannam, Monika Ewa Orlowska, Rebekka Atladóttir, Saga Lif Finsöriksdóttir, Obalina Ardashtian, Katja Zarghom, Behnaz Ardlan
Special thanks to Ólafur Lúdviksson, Lotte Bjørn Petersen and Ole Bjørn Petersen

Installation view from the solo exhibition The Source at Charlotte Fogh Gallery, Aarhus in 2014.
Installation view from the solo exhibition The Source at Charlotte Fogh Gallery, Aarhus in 2014.
Installation view from the solo exhibition The Source at Charlotte Fogh Gallery, Aarhus in 2014.
Installation view from the solo exhibition The Source at Charlotte Fogh Gallery, Aarhus in 2014.
Installation view from the solo exhibition The Source at Charlotte Fogh Gallery, Aarhus in 2014.
Installation view from the solo exhibition The Source at Charlotte Fogh Gallery, Aarhus in 2014.