NES Artist Residency - Dead Rat Underground Creations

Spákonufell, 2026, digital photography

Spákonufell is known as the mountain of the prophetess. It towers over a small fishing village called Skagaströnd¹ and that is where I stayed with 11 other artists during the residency. This series of photos were taken during my ascent up the mountain, within Skagaströnd and in abandoned buildings in the surrounding areas.

Skagaströnd translates to 'Coast of the Skagi', Skagi meaning peninsula.

View from the top of Spákonufell over looking Skagaströnd. The mountains in the distant are the West Fjords.

Námafjall, 2026, digital photography

The name Námafjall translates to 'Sulphur Mine Mountain'. This place also has another name Hverir meaning 'hot springs'. Pools of boiling mud boiled so intensely that its vibrations rattled the shiny steel walk way beneath out feet. The low rumble and bubble filled our ears and the damp and warm smell of sulphur filled our noses. The air was so think, we could feel each droplet of water from the steam against our skin as we walked through it. As the light of the setting mid-night sun danced through the mists, it cast a rosy hue on the landscape filling our eyes with wonder.

Námafjall, 2026, Ektar 100 & Portra 800

If the earth wasn't boiling, it was dry and cracked.

Huldufólk, 2026, digital photography

Renowned for its otherworldly landscapes, Iceland is also deeply rooted in a rich tradition of folklore populated by elves and trolls known to Icelanders as Huldufólk meaning 'the hidden people'. This photographic series Huldufólk explores the reciprocal relationship between landscape, folklore, and the human imagination, considering how bizarre geological formations can become the foundation for myth. Across Iceland’s coastlines, snowy mountains, and lava fields, rock formations are often mistaken for or imagined to be the bodies of magical creatures.

These photographs were taken in the lava field Dimmuborgir, meaning 'dark fortresses'.

The Frog at the Bottom of the Well, 2026, moving image

The title of this film is drawn from the Chinese fable ‘The Frog at the Bottom of the Well,’ from the Daoist philosophical text Zhuangzi. The fable tells of a frog who believes that the well is the whole world, and the whole sky is the opening of the well. It is only when a relative comes and begs the frog to leave the well that he discovers the vastness of the world beyond it. This fable became a metaphor for my own journey of leaving behind familiarity and comfort and entering into an unfamiliar world.

I felt incredibly small within Iceland’s vast landscapes, which were often enveloped in a thick mist that obscured the horizon, a grey void made the environment feel even more infinite. This sense of scale became central to the work, reflecting my own feelings of insignificance and wonder within an unfamiliar landscape.