Dr. Þorvarður Árnason, Associate Research Professor and Director of the Hornafjordur Research Centre, University of Iceland, co-creator of the documentary After Ice.
Dr. Þorvarður Árnason is a leading environmental scholar and founding figure of the Integrated Environmental Humanities in Iceland. His academic background is highly interdisciplinary, involving studies in biology, filmmaking, and environmental philosophy and politics.
Þorvarður´s research activities over the past three decades have involved a broad spectrum of topics, but in recent years his main focus has been on interdisciplinary climate change research and mediation. This decision reflects his dual position as Director of the University of Iceland´s Hornafjordur Research Centre, situated in close proximity to Vatnajökull, Iceland´s largest glacier, and his Associate Research Professorship in Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies at the University of Iceland.
Þorvarður´s own artistic work spans over four decades, beginning with freelance activities as a photographer in the early 1980s. His first solo photography exhibition was held in 1987 but following studies in filmmaking in 1989-1992, his main focus moved to cinema. During his doctoral studies (1996-2005) and early academic career, Þorvarður´s attention was primarily directed towards scholarly research activities, in particular concerning the socio-cultural foundations of environmental values and attitudes in Iceland. However, his move to Hornafjörður in 2006 rekindled his passion for visual media and this led to an emphasis on bridging the gap between Science and Art, in particular with regard to Climate Change Communication. Þorvarður and his associates have since developed novel visual research methods, using photography, film, timelapse, CG, and VR, which are amiable to both scientific documentation and artistic creation.
The genesis of this approach concerned two longterm projects. The first involved serial repeat photography of the glacier Hoffellsjökull, based on monthy repeat photography of the glacier for 8 years (2008-2015.) The second involved an in-depth, year long study of Jökulsárlón, an iconic glacier lagoon, which resulted in a photography book published in 2010. Since moving to Hornafjordur, Þorvarður has held 9 photography exhibitions and produced several films, including After Ice (2021) and The Grand Harmony of the Sands (2021). In February 2023, his multi-media work Blámi (Blueness), opened at the Svavar Guðnason Art Museum in Höfn. Two of his artworks also form part of the collective exhibition Resistance in the National Gallery of Iceland´s House of Collections in Reykjavík. Þorvarður received the Hornafjordur Cultural Award for his landscape photos and films in 2018.
