This series began with an obsession: the desire to find myself. But the more I searched, the more I realized how impossible, and maybe even unnecessary, that search is.

Last summer, I came across a quote from the artist Georgia O’Keeffe: “I have done nothing all summer but wait for myself to be myself again.” That sense of waiting, lingering, and searching for something that may never fully appear has stayed with me.

My identity feels both fixed and fictional, reflected back to me through nature, still life, strangers and constructed ideas. Sometimes I recognize myself in others, in the realization that every passerby carries a life as vivid and complex as my own. That thought is both comforting and somber – as if each of us is only a fragment of the same soul.

The images hold memory and absence at once. The frames remain as evidence, while blurring the lines between time and place. There is melancholy in the echoes I could not capture, and in the moments I did not notice until they had already passed. These photographs carry nostalgia and longing, not just for the past, but also for the present as it slips away.

Elín Ósk Jóhannsdóttir (1996) graduated in Fine Art Photography from The Icelandic School of Photography in 2021. During her studies, she devoted much of her work to exploring the relationship between image and text, an area that became the core of her creative interest. Her graduation project was a photography book combining her own photographs, found material, and text developed in collaboration with the writer Díana Sjöfn Jóhannesdóttir.

After graduating, Elín has worked on a wide range of photographic projects – from wedding photography and large-scale advertising campaigns to shooting behind the scenes on film sets. Her passion, however, lies first and foremost in film photography. Working with film requires the photographer to slow down, pause, and preserve each moment with greater care.

For Elín, photography is a way of telling stories. Image and text intertwine to create space for interpretation. A single photograph can open doors to many narratives, stirring emotions, memories, and questions within the viewer.

Elín currently works as a content & copywriter, while also studying English at the University of Iceland.

There will be a special exhibition opening on Thursday, January 15th  from 18:00-21:00 and everyone is welcome!

Other opening hours

Fri                            16th   Jan           13:00 – 18:00
Sat                           17th   Jan           12:00 – 17:00
Sun                          18th   Jan           14:00 – 17:00

LG // Litla Gallerý is sponsored by the Culture and Tourism Committee of Hafnarfjörður for this event.