Driving Through the Magnificent Landscape of Iceland

In 2014, Michalina Okreglicka and her husband decided to move to Iceland, packing their belongings into their beloved old Nissan and driving across onto the ferry from Denmark.

She explains: “We love our car; we love to drive everywhere we can, so roads are a common view for us. But the roads in Iceland are special.” She was amazed by the roads’ proximity to nature, the animals that would wander fearlessly around them, and the old folklore of the Icelandic elves whose faint presence they could feel around them as they drove.

She documented those many hours spent driving as a kind of therapy. The resulting body of work is open-hearted and generous, with roads that invite the viewer into the scenery that spreads itself out under a wide sky, sometimes bright, sometimes stormy. Though the landscape and weather are changeable – rolling hills become snow-capped mountains, sun gives way to mist – the road is ever present.

The viewer sees the roads from Okreglicka’s point of view: we are in the car with her, the gentle curves of the asphalt suggesting endless possibility. Visually, the images are very appealing, wanderlust-inducing; but the presence of the road, of the journey, underpins them with a bright note of hope.

View more of Michalina Okreglicka’s work here.

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