A belt of geese in Eastern Iceland

Neil Folberg
Sep 9, 2014 12:06PM
My Belt, Héraðsandur, Iceland, 2011
Vision Neil Folberg Gallery

Agnieszka Sosnowska writes about her work:

Fishing, hunting, planting and gathering are considered pastimes for many people in the developed world. The pace of farming is slow, dictated by nature, economy and sheer will.  A farmer’s efforts are uncertain; such a life choice seems noble. Farming, to me, can be seen as a physical manifestation of a human’s determination. In Iceland the landscape and the weather are infinitely changing. The rituals of farming and hunting are slow, deliberate, and labor intensive. Age and decay create a surreal world of rituals that may appear unappealing or in some cases, grotesque. 

I use a 4X5 view camera to create these images. From beneath my dark cloth, I compose the edges of a story that reveals my inclusion to a place. My photographs are the language that connects me to truths deep within myself. In that split of a second when the lens shutter clicks, fantasy and reality become one and I ' belong' to the moment.

This image "The Belt" was inspired by a hunting adventure my husband had experienced. He had traveled into the mountains in Iceland to hunt “rjúpa” (ptarmigan). He amassed so many rjúpa on this tour that he ran out of space to put them. Birds were stuffed in his backpack, pockets and eventually strung from his waist.

So I recreated this scene. The birds strung to my waist are geese. After cleaning the meat from the bones we left the remains on the beach, where the self portrait was taken. The goose remains were for the foxes to eat during the hard winter.

Neil Folberg