Maria Kjartansdottir
(Iceland)

FRACTURES
About the isolation that makes a person with mental illness get stuck in the circle of the disease.

María graduated from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2005 (BA) and the Glasgow School of Art in 2007 (MFA) and is currently the Chair of FISL (Association of Icelandic Contemporary Photographers).
María has exhibited her photographs and short films in over 70 exhibitions and festivals around the world, most notably at the Arken Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, the Museum de Nervi in Genoa, Italy, the Arsenal Gallery in Poznan, Poland and the Ljungberg Museum. in Ljungby, Sweden. She has won first prizes for her photography series at Magnum Photos, Ideas Tap, the Art Elite Signature Art Prize in London, and the Helsinki Photo Festival in Finland. María's work is presented by the Degree Art Gallery - Contemporary Collective in London.
In addition to working as an independent photographer and filmmaker in Reykjavík, María co-founded Vinnslan, a collective of Icelandic artists who create and curate interdisciplinary art projects. They have produced numerous Art festivals and projects for the last ten years and premiered a multi-disciplinary project in the Shakespeare Theater in Gdansk in 2023.
María's most recent project was the artistic short film and photographic series Fractures, which premiered at RIFF (Reykjavik Film Festival) and then at Bucharest PhotoFest in 2023. The project is currently being scripted for a TV series about the subject.