On the eve of June 27th, the night before I was set to fly back to New York City from Reykjavik, Bylgja Thorlacius and I decided to collaborate on a photoshoot. I had just wrapped up my leg of the Bukalu tour, produced by Margret Maack. We’d had a busy 2 weeks of shows and It was 1 a.m and, yet, we were both so eager to make the magic that we saw in our collective mind’s eye that we pushed through.
We met up with each other under the midnight sun and drove to the ocean. The sky was radiantly alive despite the hour, and so was the sea. Our collaboration was effortless. When we neared the end of the shoot, Bylgja asked me would I mind stopping over to one more location. Feeling the exhaustion nearly taking hold, (fire breathing can be quite exhausting, you see), I asked what the location was.
She said that it was “Solfar” Sculpture. I knew it as the beautiful sculpture that I frequently saw tourists taking pictures in front of, or drinking late night beers under. She explained that the sculpture had been in fact built by her grandfather and, naturally a great source of pride for her family! It’s also one of the most iconic sculptures in Reykjavik. I was honored that she wanted me to be a part of her family’s story, and by extension her city’s story. To breathe fire at sunrise on the Sun Voyager, while being shot by the descendant of the artist who conceptualized and sculpted this incredible work…to say it was an honor and one of my favorite moments in a shoot, is an understatement. I was out of costume by then, but we were in our flow. I asked was it disrespectful to climb on it. She said he built it to be interacted with. So I climbed.
And saluted the Sun Voyager, and the rising morning sun.
