Photo Credit: Michael Kienitz
Titled “Iceland's Vanishing Beauty,” the new exhibition in the Arts @ Large Community Center is a collection of photographs of the stunning and endangered Icelandic landscapes by award-winning photojournalist Michael Kienitz.
Audiences might feel a chill looking at the half-hundred photographs featured in the exposition. The photographer traveled halfway across the world, to Vatnajökull National Park, to witness some of the most beautiful and surreal places on Earth, and he brought back haunting photos. The pictured landscapes are vast and frozen, composed of muted blues and striking whites—they capture the reality of Iceland with such mastery that a cold wind almost seeps out of them. They are printed on sheets of robust aircraft aluminum, 30 to 60 inches wide.
The opening night, on Friday, Oct. 18, starts at 5 p.m. with the chance to hear the photographer’s insight at 6:30 p.m. Aside from the exhibit, visitors can enjoy food from the Arts @ Large Café, a cash bar and music provided by local jazz and funk fusion band No Seatbelts.
As per Arts @ Large’s mission to educate Milwaukee’s children, “Iceland's Vanishing Beauty” is a field trip opportunity for students to learn about the effect of climate change and the conservation of natural wonders.
1 of 7
Michael Kienitz
2 of 7
Michael Kienitz
3 of 7
MICHAEL KIENITZ
4 of 7
MICHAEL KIENITZ
5 of 7
MICHAEL KIENITZ
6 of 7
MICHAEL KIENITZ
7 of 7
Michael Kienitz
Documenting Disappearing Beauty
“I am a photojournalist. If people want to refer to me as an artist, that's great, but I don't consider myself that,” Michael Kienitz says. As such, he tries to “faithfully reproduce the way the colors actually look. I don't do multiple exposure, put filters or modify the photos. I appreciate the natural beauty, and that's what I try to document.”
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
The slow, ongoing disappearance of Iceland’s frozen scenery is what motivated him in the first place. While visiting the country, a guide showed him the photo of a stunning ice cave; they were standing where the cave used to be, and "all I could see was small stones and gravel. I thought ‘I must come to Iceland—I must spend a lot of time documenting this vanishing beauty.’”
And so he did. For five years, he worked with the support of local organizations to document even the most remote areas. “It could be another 80 to 200 years before Icelandic glaciers entirely disappear, but there can be dramatic changes in the short term,” he explains.
“Every single photograph I've taken has dramatically changed since, and sometimes, the scene has completely vanished,” he attests. “Instead of charts and graphs, I prefer to say, ‘Look at this, this is what is going on.’” To illustrate his point, he mentions a series of three photographs showing, side by side, the same location. “It starts out with this absolutely stunning ice cave; the next shot is of one end of the ice cave after a few months, when just a tiny portion remains; and then, there's just an arch of ice, and that's all that's left.”
However, instead of turning his camera toward the damaged areas of Iceland, he prefers to show the landscapes in all their glory. “I think it's more important to look at the beauty that is vanishing rather than pictures of rocks and rocks,” he explains.
“People have no idea how few people in the world have actually seen these places because of the difficulty. It was more often than not just me and a guide in the middle of nothing but these barren, silent, incredible areas.”
Iceland's Vanishing Beauty runs through Tuesday, Dec. 31, at Arts @ Large, 1100 S. Fifth St. For more information, visit artsatlargeinc.org.
