Merge

The geothermal area of Hverir, in northern Iceland, on the shores of Lake Mývatn, is one of the most raw and direct manifestations of the island's volcanic activity. Here, heat does not emerge through pools of water, as in Hveravellir, but through solfataras, fumaroles, and boiling mud pots. The ground is dry, friable, devoid of vegetation, and impregnated with sulfur and minerals that emerge to the surface as light and dark clay muds. When these muds settle and dry, they stain the soil like a natural tempera paint, creating complex, unstable, ever-changing chromatic surfaces.

After several days spent in the Icelandic highlands along the F35, I reached Hverir by moving north. From the first aerial views, it was clear that this place required a different interpretation: not a vertical, landscape-oriented one, but an aerial and close-up perspective, capable of isolating surfaces from their context. I used the drone at a low altitude, moving slowly over the terrain.

This is how Chromatic Fluid 1, Chromatic Fluid 2, and Merge came into being. As I progressively approached the ground, the shapes began to change under my gaze: streaks reminiscent of water movement, interrupted flows, zones of chromatic fusion where different elements seemed to meet and blend. The closer the distance, the more the landscape lost all geographical connotation, transforming into a fluid, almost dynamic field, where matter still seemed to be in motion despite its apparent immobility.

These images do not arise from a specific event, but from prolonged observation. They capture a moment when the ground, though solid, retains the appearance of something still happening. In Chromatic Fluid 1 and Chromatic Fluid 2, color dominates as the primary element, appearing fluid, as if immersed in a liquid, while in Merge, the surfaces seem to fuse, erasing the boundaries between individual components. All three works share the same formation process, but each aims to convey a different perception of the same phenomenon.

In Hverir, the landscape is not presented as a definitive form, but as a trace of an ongoing chemical and geological process. These photographs do not seek to explain that process, but to capture an instant: a temporary, fragile condition, destined to change again, in which the earth appears more like a fluid substance than a stable surface.