In the lobby of the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands, there is an exhibition of works by Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir in various media, including bronze, linen and semi-transparent paper. As the title of the exhibition indicates, the main theme of the exhibition is loss – missing things.

Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir is fascinated by arts and crafts, and their use of various materials. The exhibition features two bronze sculptures. One sculpture is a cast of a woollen hat that the artist’s mother knitted as a young girl. The hat has been worn a lot and has emotional value to Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir. The artist has also cast a ball of wool in bronze. The contrasts in these works are obvious: soft, old, traditional material made by hand and then cast in bronze – something hard and expensive. Casting the woollen hat and the ball of wool in bronze preserves them for posterity, while doing away with their utility value. Though their function disappears, their shape and the narrative of bygone childhood lives on.

The exhibition also features a large textile work woven out of linen, silk, cords, wool and steel wire. The different materials, shimmering colours and changes in density lend the work a light, floating look, while the texture and size emphasise the strength and weight. The material refers to Faroese culture and craftsmanship: for example, weaving, fishing gear and sheep’s wool. But the work is not woven with the thoroughness and precision that often characterise textiles in traditional Faroese culture. In other words, the work is alluding to something else: to the back story – a narrative about missing Faroese life and culture when you are far away from your homeland. 

Words play a special role in the exhibition. The titles of the works are small poems in themselves. While some titles are poetic and emotional, others are short and precise, referring to the materiality of the works. The titles and the interaction between them shed light on a variety of topics. These include the relationship between materiality and mentality, and how many emotions can be associated with something material like a knitted hat or a ball of wool. Other titles refer to the relationship between nature and man, and how human beings impact and disturb nature. The titles add a layer of significance to the exhibition and help unite the works.

Admission to the lobby of the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands is always free. Everyone is welcome to discover and enjoy the works during the museum’s opening hours.

Welcome

FACTS:

Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir (b. 1997) was born and raised in Torshavn and is a student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.

She has been featured in several group exhibitions at the Faroe Islands National Gallery, and in 2019 she had her first solo exhibition “Flakar” (flakes/rafts) in Skálabúðin, an old clothes shop in Torshavn. Last year, Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir’s work was included in the exhibition “Conversations About Fog” at North Atlantic House in Copenhagen.