Lilja Birgisdóttir: Um leið og þú lítur undan / The Moment You Look Away · Þula
Upcoming exhibition
Overview
"There are days when I would like to grasp the self with my own hands. Place beauty within the confines of identity. Know precisely where my outlines end, where the world begins.But the self is also a stubborn dandelion, breaking through asphalt, certain it has unfinished business with the sun. The self is also a fleeting place reflected in a puddle of rainwater, a single moment we did not need to notice.Eyes that look with affection are met with a world brought to life, and I have yet to figure out how to touch without being touched in return. Each time I apply color to something, my interior being is ferociously painted in the very same hues.At the core, humans are archival beings, and attention is the very material from which we are made.Forever and simultaneously, the sun and the dandelion."Text by Lilja Birgisdóttir
Lilja Birgisdóttir (b. 1983) is an Icelandic artist based in Reykjavík who works across photography, performance, video, sound, and installation. She studied photography at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague (2007) and later earned a BA in Fine Art from the Iceland Academy of the Arts (2010). Since then, she has been closely involved with the artist-run gallery Kling & Bang in Reykjavík and co-founded Endemi, an art magazine focused on contemporary Icelandic art.
Lilja’s work explores transformation, the handmade, and sustainability, often combining photography with materials like oil paint, resin, plants, and found objects. She is a member of the international art collective Fischersund. Established in 2017, Fischersund is a family-run art collective and perfumery based in Reykjavik, Iceland. Founded by four siblings, Inga, Jónsi, Sigurrós, and Lilja, Fischersund serves as a creative platform using scent, visual arts and music. Fischersund makes immersive experiences that include unique perfumes, scented concerts and visual arts to facilitate their storytelling.
Recent exhibitions include Faux Flora at the National Nordic Museum, Seattle (2024-25), It’s Not You It’s Me at Þula (2022), and Gróður at Berg Contemporary (2020). In 2024, she collaborated with Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir on Hlutskipti / Fated at Þula. In 2015, she held solo shows at Rawson Projects (New York) and Jacqueline Falcone B&B (Miami), and participated in the NADA Art Fair in New York. In 2025, she exhibited at Market Art Fair in Stockholm with Þula.
A notable earlier project includes The Vessel Orchestra, the opening act of the Reykjavík Art Festival in 2013, created in collaboration with 15 ship captains in Reykjavík Harbour. Lilja has also produced photographic work for artists such as Damien Rice and Sigur Rós.
