Icelandic Meat Soup

Reykjavík Photography Museum, Iceland

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Icelandic Meat Soup presents a spotlight on photographer Kristjón Haraldsson, whilst focusing in on the practice, process, and form of photography. Alongside an examination of the photographic method, the photographer behind the camera is revealed. Together they work to paint a portrait of Kristjón, his family, and of the nation of Iceland in the seventies and the eighties.

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Kristjón Haraldsson (1945–2011 ) was an Icelandic photographer who worked primarily in advertising and marketing photography in the 1970s and 1980s. Kristjón was well known in this era for his photographs in fashion, records cover art and marketing. In 1973 his photograph of the volcanic eruptions in Vestmannaeyjar was printed in the National Geographic.  Many of the images in this exhibition, from his marketing campaigns and photoshoots with famous artists and musicians, were taken in his studio, Stúdíó 28, which remains a memory of his legacy. Alongside this commercial work, the collection reveals Kristjón’s more personal photography, images of intimacy and everyday life that reveal his artistic eye. Today this collection is brought into a new spotlight, highlighting Kristjón’s prolific career.