For some, the treachery of everyday living, the never ending quest for finance and the eternal sense of nonfulfillment can become too much. The effect a place has on an artist and the work they create there goes hand in hand. For Australian artist Guido van Helten, the landscape and people of Iceland are no exception. For the Icelandic folk, worrying about what you don’t have or won’t obtain will not bring you happiness. And in the film by Selina Miles „Portrait of an Artist“, she captures the essence of this philosophy and the power of the Icelandic surrounds in the context of a mural painted by van Helten on the sea ferry „,Sæfari“.
In the mystical northern Icelandic region of Akureyri, the ferry is the local peoples only regular connection to the mainland. So to them this project is more then a mural on a ship. To Guido the challenge is set to create an artwork that comes from, and belongs to „there“. Even though he himself does not. The enchanting results can seen here:
Images and Film by Selina Miles