PRIZEWINNER
ICELAND
Soffía Saemundsdóttir
Bird Paradise 1998
oil on panel 69.5 x 99.5 cm
Exhibition Catalogue No. 89

Soffía Saemundsdóttir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1965, and studied at the Reykjavik School of Art and the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts. She comments: ‘The landscape is more symbolic than real. You might recognise the place but you are not sure exactly where it is. It is a nice and peaceful place and so are the figures. They are travellers in every meaning of the word. They have wings, so they can go wherever they like, in time, in the present, the past. Their roots are in history, be it Icelandic or international, real or imagined. They wear some kind of national costumes with buttons, though their nationality is not easily defined. They travel around the world singing, or maybe humming; always looking for something, maybe a peaceful world or a better place to be’.