Images and Text By Olivier Joly

Iceland.

For over fifteen years, I have been crisscrossing this land of petrified lava on its tracks and paths. Treading its hyperboreal moors, surveying its deserts and volcanoes, letting oneself be captivated by the immensity of the sky, is to become one with an untamed nature. A magical nature, on a postcard. But also a harsh, powerful nature, which always ends up having the last word. Its geography of chaos tattoos the souls of those who have confronted it since the dawn of time.

Experiencing the telluric and climatic intensity of these confines is to discover the unpredictable. From Iceland and the Icelanders, I learned to accept the hazards and impermanence, which are the ordinary of this world. Their unofficial motto is thetta reddast: “Everything will end up working out.” It speaks of the resilience, audacity and courage of this people, whose ancestors descended from the langskips a millennium ago to build an impossible life, their feet on the magma, their heads under the storms.

Iceland grabbed me without warning. Each of my cells is now connected by an invisible thread to the telluric tumult. I am inhabited by the ancient glacial valleys. In the bareness of the moors, I feel an impressionistic intoxication. I feel a magnetic atmosphere escaping from the mists stuck to the peaks. Born of fire only fifteen million years ago, sculpted by wind and water, this land suggests as much as it shows. The most incredible in it is not the most visible. Iceland is felt as much as it is seen. It sharpens perceptions. It gives a hand to our moods.

With my face ringing in the wind, the rain on my lips and all my senses alert, I have an intense feeling of belonging to this land. Walking on the boreal steppes, feeling this freedom and the omnipresence of natural forces, I have the sensation of breathing harder than anywhere else. My Iceland is a path to peace and acceptance, a surrender that allows me to be more open to the world. It allows me to shatter the framework imposed by urban life, the restrictions, the forecasts, the fear of the unknown, the desire for control, life as an Excel spreadsheet.

It is this inner exile that these photographs, taken from the book and exhibition SAGAS, aim to capture.

All images and text © Olivier Joly

Edge of Humanity Magazine

Presents

Photography & Philosophy

The freezing of a moment is a magical event. Images can make us feel love, rage and every sensation in between.

Photographers, whether partial or impartial to their subject matter, consume a massive amount of insight. Their participation cannot be substituted nor replicated. The moment is gone! The experiences will live in their minds and those encounters are immortalized in their photographs.

Edge of Humanity Magazine’s ‘Photography & Philosophy’ series will bring together the art and the mind of these fantastic creators.

If you would like to participate, please contact the editor jo@edgeofhumanity.com for more details.