ICELAND DEFENSE FORCE – ÁSBRÚ

ICELAND DEFENSE FORCE – ÁSBRÚ

“The aura of abandoned places“

In early 2015, photographer Bragi Þór Jósefsson, displayed the exhibition Iceland Defence Force in Reykjavík‘s Museum of Photography. There he showed photographs taken in the military base in Keflavík airport, shortly after the United States army left the country after 55 years. In these photograps Bragi Þór captured the athmosphere in the abondened houses of the Iceland Defence Force, houses that used to be filled with american culture but were now empty and exotic. 

Since the locals where had more contact with the Iceland Defence Force then other Icelanders, the Art Museum of Reykjanesbær wanted to display a new version of Bragi´s exhibition in Duus Museum in Keflavik. Bragi agreed to add photographs of „the after life“ of the military base, where you can see glimpses of the living conditions of the new residents, of, now called, Ásbrú.

In the photographs Bragi documents what the curitor, Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson, calles “the aura of abandoned places“, the silence precense of the vanished people from another cultural world whose daily life and destiny puts its mark on desolated accommodations and public places. Subsequently, he shows how a new generation of Icelanders shape this former army base of Americans in their own way.

Bragi Þór Jósefsson graduated in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology in the United States in 1987 and began as a result working as a professional photographer. He has photographed for companies, individuals as well as Icelandic and foreign magazines. In addition, he has held exhibitions of his photographs, taken part in group exhibitions of contemporary photographers and taken part in book publishing.

The exhibition Iceland Defense Force - Ásbrú is on display from February 6 to April 24 in Duus Museum which is open every day from 12:00 to 17:00.