HappY BrightMas 2005

This year that is passing is one of the best years of my life. During spring I started chanting ala SGI and got the mirror of my soul, da GoHonZon handed over to me on the 17th of June. Since then many amazing things have happened. Specially within myself. This passing summer and Autumn (fall) I totally devoted myself to the environmental struggle here in Iceland (savingiceland) and made some secretive spells with the help of the Hidden People of this island. My website Womb of Creation had its 10 years anniversary, my older son got initiated into adulthood and I went to an international poetry festival in Macedonia. I published my novel the Diary of the Chameleon, been working on it for 18 years on and off. I climbed some mountains in the south and in the east. I sat down in the vortex of one of the doomed waterfalls in the east of Iceland and promised never to forget that I belong to this nature. It has shaped me into who and what I am.
I made some precious new friends and renewed my connection with some ancient friends.
What stands out of all of this is gratitude.

Thank you for having your share in making this year so special

With sincere warmth and brightness

Birgitta "Karls" Jónsdóttir
aka
Joy B

p.s. the BrightMas image this year is created by Maurizio di Bona aka "theHand"

things are a bit CrAzy...

these days. it is the time of year when there is simply no daylight. yet it is the time of year if you are a writer with a newly published book, when you need the most vitality and energy and flow and a bit of luck. i have not published book on this scale since 1989 and there are many reasons why. one is that i object to the madness around this month. seems to be growing worse if anything. the amounts of money people spent to make something perfect that is already perfect. i invented the concept of Brightmas some years ago and i intend to keep it that way.

so i have been working hard to get my book in the media and it has been quite hard but at the same time i have been quite successful in getting it where i want it. i think it is hard work, being in the flow and by being in the flow that has made me feel a bit lucky. i have been training myself to be in tune with how things sync together. i have been acting on those hunches and it always works out the way it should. anyway so i have been on telly, front-cover of a magazine, interviews in the newspapers and soon on the radio. perhaps the most positive thing is that the book has touched many of its readers.

on thursday i will have the selflovenight of the chameleon, devoted to myself and this book. have been organising events for as long as i can remember for everyone else but myself. i have learned so much in this process. this little chameleon is indeed quite shy and has always found it hard to put herself in the limelight. this might come as surprise to many but it is quite true. been all my life struggling with a very low self-esteem and never wanted to be full of myself. i have never found the life of the rich and famous to be something i wanted. it is a linedance. the need to reach to many readers, to touch many lives and at the same time wanting to be out of the limelight. i feel finally strong enough, compassionate enough to dance this dance without getting full of ego and self importance. it takes a lot of courage to get beyond the skin of the chameleon and showing your true colours. so my novel is written in a brutally honest style. blurring the borders of reality and fiction to such an extent that no one knows that is my real diary and memories or fiction. i don't really know what is what anymore. been working on this text for 18 years. yes i admit it> i am a perfectionist.
anyway the greatest news about this all for me personally is that now i can write other books.

and this i will do, i will start early next year on the historical novel about my insane bloodbound father whom changed his name from Karl Valdimarsson to Hank Fox. his family is such a great material for a book. like wildest fiction.

anyway better get on with it.... here are photos from the magazine.... ©vikan> sigurjon ragnar 2005

Click on them images to see them bigger.....

I am thinking about death

and i wrote this as a result of this thought ...

I don't fear death itself
but how it sucks
the live out of the living

I welcome death
oh natural death
breath of eternity

Green moss eyes
volcanic stare
ever moving circle

It is the stare of despair
the angst
driving people to slow suicides
of apathy
that I fear

Oh natural death
sucking the life out of the chest
a graceful last gasp
from a perfectly serene body

I spin in circles
all around I see twisted half deaths
zombie life
killing time
ripping the sacred
bound between man and nature
into scornful pieces

It is not death itself I fear
but the rapture
of the faithfully fearful

So much to do and so little time to do it

my greatest challenge these days is to deal with all the email i get...
i love getting email from interesting people, however i find it impossible to reply to everyone
and sometimes people get an email from me a year after they sent me an email
i sometimes miss the days of snail mail
it somehow had a more natural flow to it
i would write a letter and maybe if i was lucky get a letter back in a week or so
.......

this autumn a got a poltergeist in my computer and many things mysteriously vanished from the hard drive
including my entire IN box... and about 2000 emails i had sent ... including heaps of poems and other wonderful
things i write when i wake up... well to be honest i felt a bit relieved... but at the same time i can't remember what letters
got lost, i had about 200 pending... my IN box was however empty for the first time since 1996 and it was a glorious feeling... for a few days... so now i got a backlog of 60 letters, and no matter how hard i try to work on this thing
it only seems to grow... and GROW.... anyway of course my book is late from the printers
it is somesort of law... things will never be ready on time when it comes to printing
i am dead nervous about this whole thing. but at the same time i am enjoying it and it is almost like i am in love
get them butterflies in my belly when i think about the book.. i am very happy with it .... got 3 copies yesterday
will get the rest hopefully today.... and it is just the way i wanted it to be ...

have a look at this site if you like amazing B&W photos
http://www.private.it/

Joy B the covermaker

i like to make things that are final
like book covers and posters and stuff
i don't like making web pages so much any more
not for others that is
because it is endless and the person i made the web for can mess with it
that is why i like to make books
they are final
final
final
once they have been printed
i can't or don't have to do anything

here are a few covers i have been doing lately

and one poster i made a week ago

finally finally after 18 years of birthpains

the Diary of the Chameleon will be published...... same day as i gave birth to my younger son Delphin
7th of November.... interesting... i didn't intend it to be published that day
it is written in Icelandic but i am working on its translation to Enrish.... English....
Here is the cover.... a collage from two of my old scrapbooks

Comics: Closer Than First-Person

I have always had a weakness for comics. My newest favourites are graphic novels that recite history. Just read three books on this subject. They have a common thread, life during wartime experienced through the eyes of the innocents. The visual of the graphic novel somehow brings the distant world of the inhumane closer to heart than any documentaries I have seen, and these books brought me closer to these horrid events that have occurred and are still occurring in our human history.

Maus approaches the unspeakable.
I started with Maus by Art Spiegelman, a Pulitzer Prize winner. I hate to admit that I am rather bored with documentation of the Holocaust, seen so much of it and it had ceased to have any effect on me, except the traditional sadness of human brutality and insanity. Maus is great because it is not in the hero-making business. It is a brutally honest story within a story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive and at the same time it is set up against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival and the relationship between a survivor and his son.
It is not always the ideal relationship and yet it has a warm core to it and it moves easily between the grisly past and the difficult now as a result of this past. Art Spiegelman’s work from Maus is on display at the Reykjavík Art Museum as a part of the comic show Nine at Hafnarhúsið.

I couldn’t help compare the fate of the Palestinians to the fate of the Jews.
The next book I read was Palestine by Joe Sacco, winner of the American book award. Somehow it was a lot more difficult to read that one because it is not based on the past but what is actually happening now and I couldn’t help compare the fate of the Palestinians to the fate of the Jews. The parallel is uncomfortably real.

Sacco manages to use the comic book format to its full effect, bringing fragmented life into reality, his work made its way deep into my soul so that I actually felt as if I were with him on his journey, and like him I couldn’t wait to get out. Again it was the brutal honesty of the author about himself and his weaknesses, like in Maus, that made the story what it is, unforgettable.

Children were the soft targets of the snipers because they got paid for each person they killed.
Finally I read Fax from Sarajevo by Joe Kubert winner of Eisner Award. This is a story based on real faxes from Sarajevo. Joe received these faxes from his friend and comic book publisher Ervin Rustemagic during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992-1993. It tells the story of Ervin and his family struggling to survive and the many facts about war that was just too easy to forget: like how the rest of the world did nothing, and how many children were the soft targets of the snipers because snipers were paid for each person they killed and kids were an easy target. The adults would usually come out from their hiding to help them if wounded and then the snipers could shoot them too.

The place to get hold of these books and other like them is Nexus, the only specialist in comic books in Iceland and of course you can always get them at the city library’s ever-expanding comic book department.

A Unique Life – A Unique Museum

Article I made for the Reykjavik Grapevine about the home of Halldór Laxness
-------


It was raining heavily and the rain turning into sleet when I arrived at Glúfrasteinn, the home of the late Halldór Laxness and his family, recently turned into a museum.
I pushed the doorbell and a got a warm welcome from the guide. It was a strange feeling to walk into this world I had heard so much about and which is woven thoroughly into the history of Iceland’s culture during the last century. The walls were covered with art by some of the greatest Icelandic artists of Halldór’s generation.

The first item that caught my attention was a painting by Kjarval. I could see that someone had tried to paint a moustache on the male figure. The sound guide on the Walkman explained that it was Kjarval himself who wanted to make this addition to the painting when he was visiting Halldór. The thing that impressed me the most was its surroundings, how it merges with the ambience of the home. There are so many windows and through each of them, the unique nature of Iceland is on display in all its glory. It is as if the windows are frames around an ever-changing work of art.

In Auður’s bedroom one can hear the clear blue river sing its songs and the strong smell of books is everywhere. It is a house of books, faith, creativity and hospitality.
The life of Halldór was unique to our history and culture. Like many good artists he was eccentric and did things his way. For example, he would always write by hand, standing at his high desk, his wife sitting next to him typing everything he wrote. The home is full of interesting things for the eye, relics, interior design, furniture, books or art that used to be very exotic and bold for our fellow islanders at the time.
If you go, you have to give yourself time to walk down to the river and explore the surrounding nature of Gljúfrasteinn. And when you leave make sure to give yourself time to read at least one of Halldór Laxness many brilliant books, for example Independent People, a book that has influenced generations of artists on the island.

The museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays 10.00-17.00.
More information to be found at
http://www.gljufrasteinn.is

Voices In the Waterfalls

Interview I did with the Icelandic artist Rúrí ­ early spring 2005.
-------

Rúrí represented Iceland at the 50th Venice Biennale 2003 with the multimedia installation Archive - endangered waters. The work is finally displayed in Reykjavík at the National Gallery of Iceland, and will be until the 13th of March.
The work contains 52 waterfalls that we have almost lost, have lost or will lose through dam building. Rúrí has recorded the voice of each waterfall and when you pull out the image from the archive the waterfall speaks to you.

BJ: What was the inspiration for the show Archive – endangered waters?
Rúrí: “Nature without doubt. I respect nature deeply, I connect with her. Whenever we do something to her, it affects all of us. Each nation has the duty to treat their environment and nature with full responsibility and respect. This planet and its whole biosphere is our joint responsibility.
There is an extra dimension to our planet that most Icelanders are not aware of because of the abundance of water we have. It is the fact that water has become the blue gold on our planet. Pure water is a very fragile aspect of the planet’s biosphere. If the mentality of power and greed is put aside then it becomes clear what really matters; water and nourishment, not oil.”


BJ: What sort of reactions has the exhibition gotten?
Rúrí: “I have never experienced as much warmth and kindness at an opening of my work before. It was as if the child within came bursting out in people when they got in touch with the artwork. People often feel joy around water, perhaps the sounds from the waterfalls opened a space for that in them.
I have also heard that people in France cried at the exhibition when they realized what the work was telling them, that most of these waterfalls will be no more.”

When asked what is ahead for her, she said, “I am preparing work that will be a part of a new sculpture-garden in the mountainsides of Vesuvius, Italy. I am also working on two sculptures that I have been commissioned to do for a museum in Germany.”
Some artists have a unique access to the collective consciousness and their work speaks to everyone because it contains levels of truth and vision we all can relate to. Rúrí’s works have a mythological sense to them. She is a modern mythmaker.
In works like The Gate, a memorial for missing persons, The Rainbow at the Leif Eriksson Air Terminal in Keflavík, the Glassrain and her masterpiece Archive – endangered waters, she makes that quite clear.

Icelandic Government - Pimps of Nature!

Joy B finally found the message from Muninn one of Odins ravens, he will not forget what this government will be infamous for selling the things it never owned. Seeing the havoc, the destruction in the majestic highlands of Iceland not only brakes my heart but transforms me also into a warrior by all means necessary... i will fight to the bitter end if needed to save this nature, our nature, all i ever was, was part of her, all i ever will be is part of her, allowing the destruction of her means allowing my own destruction....

Little do the fools know that are messing with our nature, she is active, unpredictable, she will give us earthquakes and volcanic eruptions before they will ever be able to finish the mindless destruction. The idiots are building Europe's largest dam on an active crack in the soil, its soul will move, shake, tremble, the glacier rivers will swell, move destroy, claim back the wild nature before they will be able to finish their monument of mindless short term greed.

Joy B the spellmaker

When I lived in the beautiful valley in the East of Iceland called Fljótsdalur I was told that one could find the largest dwellings of the Hidden People in Iceland deep in the North valley of Fljótsdalur.

Last week I was walking as I often do through the ancient graveyard in the centre of the city of Reykjavik. I walked passed the grave of Kjarval, an eccentric and one of our best-known artists among Icelanders, whom used to spend much of his time in the East of Iceland, not far from the place they are killing in the highlands to build an aluminum smelter for Alcoa (international criminals of the corporate kind). Stopping in my tracks I thought to myself: “What would you have done if you would be alive now, experiencing this torture and destruction of our nature?”
In my mind a thought floated, they don’t burn witches at the stakes nowadays for a minor spell. Therefore, I asked him and all the ghosts that dwell in the graveyard to flock to the East in the company of the Hidden People of the South and deities from nature. I visualized one of the gigantic drills they are using to make the damn dam in the highlands of North East Iceland as a penis and I saw it loose its erection, becoming limp and soft, no longer capable to penetrate deep into the womb of the mountain. At this moment I felt a mighty storm move around me and the army of beings that had walked with me for a short period of time had vanished.
Later in the day I heard in the news at the national radio that one of the drills was not working anymore, limp it was, weak against the elements of nature.
So now is the time when we are told the enemies are the terrorists, the hidden enemies, the armies of hooded boogiemen, and the power of fear. Now is the time for us the spell makers to make our spells, with the elements of nature, against the killing machines of nature, of wilderness, against greed, fear and indifference.

The Mountain Lady

I
Deep is my love that
flows into the heavy glacier river
towards the muddy sea surrounding
her fragile soil

Uneasy dreams
filled with
whimpering and screams
as they cut deep into her womb

Gigantic drill
penetrates deep into the Mountain woman
Shoots off with ever growing lust for power
-Aluminium semen

Rumble and quakes
wake me up
at the dawn of illusion

The Mountain lady
is bleeding
Her scars deep
The foetus growing inside her
has hundred heads
Eating at each other
with short term greed
-Toxic waste of a future

The mountain lady
was our ancient sacred symbol
of faith to this extreme nature
Towards the elements of beauty
that sparks from her crystal clear eyes


II
The elder women
gather in a circle
cry bitter tears
as they work up a spell
abortion
abortion
of the aluminium foetus

In the distance I see the industrial father
with his carefree smirk
King of the mountain
blinded with greed
and ambition

The spell is our love
for each rock
for each grain of sand
each shape
each life
on the hit list
of corporate greed

dedicated to each and everyone daring to make a spell against the Karahnjukar dam by doing something to stop it

Saving Iceland

If there is one thing that makes my heart beat faster,
If there is one thing that makes my mind jump within chronic joy attack
If there is one thing that makes me feel Icelandic
than it is our wilderness, the silent heartbeat of earthquakes
the sharp mountains, the fragile fauna, the soft moss, the crystal clear mountain springs
I love this island of extremes for its nature and it is the thing that has always pulled me back home
but my island is under grave danger of being destroyed by corporate greed and mindless destruction of the highlands in order to build a massive dam in order to provide energy for an aluminium smelter run by the multinational criminals Alcoa. The Icelandic government has been lying on their back like cheep hookers, believing that the aluminium semen injected into Icelandic economy will make us filthy rich fast, especially those that have sold out on our nation and wilderness. No other western country would dream of building such factories or inflict such destruction on their wilderness today, maybe 20 years ago but not today like us. Please go to http://www.savingiceland.org if you care about Icelandic nature and spread the word or take part in the international protest camp that will take place this summer in the highlands of the North East of Iceland. The protest camp will be situated in the area that will be flooded.

This destruction of Iceland is not just about Karahnjukar, they have their eyes on many other gems of our nature, many historical glacial rivers are under threat and our land will be scarred to such an extent that some areas of it will be the most polluted in Europe. We have to act fast, we are few but dedicated in this fight here in Iceland. The multinational corporations think we are easy to deal with because there are so few Icelanders, so in many ways we are like a small tribe and that works to their benefit. This is why we need international help. We are experiencing a serious activist burnout and need encouragement and all the help we can get to rescue the largest remaining wilderness of Europe.

Cold Turkey & moving houses

I guess the worst thing that can happen to an internet nerd like me is to be without access for a period of time. I moved houses first of June and the telephone company lost me in their system somehow. So I had to thread the hotspot cafe's or visit friends with routers, because everything I do has its sync with the internet. I pay my bill within the online bank, I get resources for my projects online, I use the online dictionary, I use the online telephone book, I communicate with my friends, I am because I use the internet to a great degree. So a week without access is serious cold turkey for me, but at the same time it made time change and gave me the needed space for moving. I have for some mysterious reason chosen furniture and material things that are as heavy as it gets and nearly killed my friends and family, including myself carrying it to the 4th floor. I was very very lucky; because I found a flat to rent that I can have for many years. Usually I move so often that it is hardly worth to unpack. I not only used to move because I was a tenant and that is not an easy situation in Iceland, but I also moved around the world, and that meant I would shed my material skin, and have to start all over again and again. It is a lot of work and thus it was such a wonderful thing to only have to move between houses this time, I can see my old flat from my new windows. Mount Esja is also there, the queen of mountains, ever changing and majestic in a friendly sort of way. I am so ultra happy with this new flat, it has views to all directions, it is bright, has good energy, and is even closer to the things of importance. I think gratitude is a key element to happiness. And dreams do materialise if the intent is clear. Like this flat. I loved the other flat I was renting, it was perfect except for a few minor details, and I always knew I would have to move out of it after 9 months. I didn't really want to move out of it, so I wished for a flat that would be just the same, in the same neighbourhood, plus the things that lacked in the other one, a storage room and new electricity and such. I put an add in the paper and the people that own this flat were the only people that called, but they had the perfect flat, and by pure luck and without any delay we signed contracts the day after I had a look at it. Such nice people, my heart is filled with gratitude....
Yes it is .... and now despite extreme exhaustion, I am jumping around in a chronic joy attack.....
Ready to deal with all those projects I have somehow got myself into.....

Joy B moving

Ravens are my kind of birds, i think because I have a ghost of a raven sitting on my shoulder and he whispers in my ear things i shouldn't couldn't know. I am moving to the 4th floor, there i will scan for news and wisdom echoing from those naked mountains and the sounds of the ravens. So my best friends tend to be rare ravens, often referred to as white ravens.



Moving is art, specially when you have done a lot of it, the art of moving is being able to move between houses and no one really noticed, except your sore muscles and your plants. I hope this will be the last time for some time to be, i have moved so many times in my life, that i have lost count of it. Who cares anyway, the most important thing is the place you are living within at any given moment. Well those empty boxes are howling at me, and i got a mountain to climb.

Joy B loves Joy Division

One of the bands that had the greatest influence on me during my rather stormful eventful sometimes dark teenage years was Joy Division. I would sink myself into the current of the music, try to pull out the lyric poems and feel as if this music was the only thing that was the same entity as I was during this time. As if it has a life on its own and was the only voice that understood the dark corridors of my soul. Much later I have realized that this band has in its invisible way had more influence on both what I do as a writer, specially the lyric poems of Ian Curtis and what I have been drawn to listen to ever since.
A few months back I went on a great nostalgia trip when it comes to music from the past. I downloaded all those bands I had on vinyl in some box, including Joy Division, and they are still totally cool. The music, the words, the voice, and through this unique sound and feelings they have influenced most of the musicians that play real music: and how much less music would be today without the existence of Joy Division......

Tomorrow night there will be a Joy Division tribute at Gaukur á Stöng, with some pretty fantastic musicians. I was asked to put together a couple of posters for the event and while I was at it I suggested I would read the poem lyrics to New Dawn Fades. A brilliant poem; a foreboding perhaps for what to come. I am both rather stressed to read it and looking forward to it. It is part of my mission to open people’s eyes to the fact that poetry is part of our lives in a far less serious manner than they think they are.

Here are the posters, if you are in Iceland, you have to come.... it will be unforgettable.

Within the Belly of the Beast - America Vs. America

Interview with Trygve Svensson and Cristoph Fielder By Birgitta Jonsdottir published in the Reykjavík Grapevine yesterday

The American flag was flapping in the wind at the entrance of Klink & Bank. Looking closer at it I noticed that the stars had been replaced by corporate logos known to all of us. Inside I found political art at its best: thought provoking, funny, ironic and inspirational. America vs. America is an attempt shatter the illusion that all Americans are right wing neo-conservatives or a mindless flock of sheep with the glare of Fox news shining in their eyes.

We are witnessing liberal rights being chipped away to protect us from hidden enemies. In the USA of today, many outspoken artists are experiencing for the first time since the McCarthy era that they are being censored or even threatened because of their artistic expression.
The opening night of the exhibition had some interesting things to enjoy; most notable was the performance “Mumia” by the Busted Chairs Theater Project. Mumia is a play questioning the judicial system in the USA and capital punishment through the case, trial and work of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an award-winning Pennsylvania journalist who exposed police violence against minority communities. He has been on death row since 1982, despite evidence that proves he was wrongfully convicted of the shooting of a police officer. For the last 23 years, Mumia has been locked up 23 hours a day, denied contact visits with his family, had his confidential legal mail illegally opened by prison authorities, and put into detention for writing his first of three books while in prison, Live From Death Row.

Beyond “Mumia”, the America vs. America exhibition offers different aspects of art in a political context: American political art, the documentary; “Should we save this empire?”; performances and workshops, but first and foremost; A Peace Project.

What inspired you to put this exhibition together?
Christoph Fielder: I have been politically active for the last ten years, founded the Swedish division of Adbusters and worked as a managing director for Artduty. I think the idea came out of extreme frustrations about the current situation, the war against Iraq and I needed a positive outlet for those feelings. I wanted to be part of this growing movement of activists around the world and it somehow felt like the right thing to find out more about the counter culture of the USA. The people you usually never hear about in the world media. It was also a quest to find my personal connection between art and politics.

Trygve Svensson: I went to the Norwegian Social forum as a freelance journalist, but ended up as one of the participant. I felt it was impossible to be there without being part of it. I guess I have been living in my own personal bubble for a long time where politics didn’t interest me at all. By doing this I am at least doing something to inspire other people to do something.

Do you believe that individuals can make a difference in our world?
CF: I think it is impossible not to make a difference.
You can’t be neutral on a moving train, can you? (Ref. to Howard Zinn’s second book of the same title.)

Do you think that America is free in its current political landscape?
CF & TS: No, a lot of times we got shocked because we heard so many stories about people that had been put in prison because of their artistic or political actions. The similarities between the USA and Germany in 1938 are frightening. In the book Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in American by Bertram Gross you pretty much get the picture of that is going on in the USA today. The scary part is that it is already an empire but the Nazi Germans never got further than fantasizing about it.
Nevertheless, we believe that it is important to have a positive focus and underneath this senseless and negative surface there are a lot of positive things happening. We will in our lifetime see some radical changes and actions. We have all these groups working towards common goals in our world, at some point we will unify in similar but more sustainable actions than simple protests. The Internet has been a great connection point already to coordinate global actions. Activist are shaping the world on levels that are often not reported at all, fair trade did for example go up by 38% last year. One of the goals of this exhibition is to gather information, to come up with new ideas and to hook people up together. We aim to gather political art from each country we travel with this show and when we will finally bring it to the USA we will showcase something from each country, including Iceland.

What is your goal with this exhibition?
CF & TS: We would like to reach people and show the Scandinavians the diversity of the grassroots movement in America. We hope to inspire people from the USA and Scandinavia to work together. The artists in the USA need all the support we can give to them.

Why did it premier in Iceland?
CF & TS: Simple reasons we always wanted to go to Iceland and we know that there is quite an active art scene but according to Eva the political art scene was very hidden and weak. We wanted to inspire artists to be political in their work and we feel optimistic that this exhibition might have got something going because most of the people attending the workshop are graphic artists.
We need art to express diversity really clearly. It is through our diversities we will survive as humankind. It is important to create a way to verbalize our thought and to raise our awareness. Art has a great role in opening up new ways of dialogue among the nations of the world.

CF: The artist Moa Salim expresses so clearly the role of art in the documentary Trygve Svensson is putting together “Should we save this empire?”
Art has the duty to communicate the uncommunicatable, as things that were allowed to be commutated expanded to everything, art almost lost its purpose. When you could talk openly about everything, why would you need art? Now we are going back to a time were there are things you can’t talk about – the era of black and white, with or against the terrorists. There are a lot of things we no longer can openly and freely discuss, which gives art another special place. These things can be perverted, manipulated and talked about. Which will allow the person to express herself without getting into trouble for that expression. So art is maybe finding a real true place in society again. There is a lot of good work to be done. It is indeed a time for celebration of the artistic expression. It has a role again.

the dead tern

Walking through the old cemetery last night with my friend, we saw a dead tern, it was a bit creepy. A victim to the graveyard cat. I have never seen a dead tern in the city. In Iceland we believe terns are a symbol of the spring (one of many).
Did this mean spring was dead, summer was officially here??? It was cold last night yet all of nature was forcing its green buds out of the cocoon of winter. Was this an omen of dreadful times to come??? No such feeling of doom. Terns used to attack me when I was a kid walking in the moor ..... one even got so close to make a hole on my head, needless to say they never used to be among my favourite of birds. However in the last years I have learned to love their beautiful dance in the sky and protective nature for their young ones. And here at the end of the world, any sign of spring is a welcomed signed. It is an interesting fact that no other nation in the world celebrates summer as early as we do. I have no idea why, maybe it is the daylight. Makes us all eternal optimists. Sort of funny to hear people say "Happy Summer" when it is still snowing.......

Joy B is a Buddhist

I don't remember how many times I have said to people; if I were to belong to any organised religion ever, than the only one that I could possible belong to would be Buddhism, because it is tolerant towards all other religions. And by some strange twist of fate I went with a friend to do some chanting and I had no idea it was a Buddhist chanting, it could have been any sort of chanting. I love to chant and make strange ancient sounds to get into that space of feeling my feelings. To ride the tide of joy with sounds and strange noises. As I was chanting with these people, it felt like I had done this all my life. I felt after months of feeling out of focus, in focus. My eyes were clear and bright again. And I was full of joy. I read some about this form of Buddhism and it was all common sense and felt like something I wanted to devote my energy and life to. And so it is that Joy B has a calling and her calling was answered and so she is taking this path, and if you ever hear strange sounds from her flat, it is only those ancient sounds that have found their runway into the big stream of sounds, a drop of crystal clear reason. I am devoted..... what a strange feeling it is.

Hey I thought it was spring!!!?!?!?!?

Seeking creative help in unusual places

Making nostaliga real

Sunday was a big day in the house of Joy B. Her teenage son chose to have a civil confirmation. You see, at the island of extremes all kids his age get confirmed to Christianity, well almost all, believers or not. However on April 17th (my birthday) 93 brave souls went against the stream and got confirmed in a civilized way. The kids got fantastic preparation and education before the confirmation ceremony took place, such as; ethics, human relations, human rights, equal rights, relations between the sexes, prevention of alcohol and drug abuse, skepticism, protecting the environment, getting along with parents, being a teenager in a consumer/advertising-dominated society, and what it means to be an adult and take responsibility for your views and behavior.

You might not know it but Joy B is a rather nostalgic person, she craves for a big family and likes family traditions. She likes to carry on with the things she loved when she was a kid. Like how the family used to come together every year at my grandparents house and after eating much and talking much we sang, my grandfather played the guitar, my mom too and my granny played the harmonica, the rest of us sang. It was just something about it that would make me get all warm inside. Therefore, my aim was to get that warm feeling inside and try to give that to the rest of the family somehow. Most people in Iceland are just too busy to meet the rest of their family; aunts and uncles relations are almost over. It is quite crazy, and I refuse to take part in it. Anyway the most important thing was to see it is possible, so when I have a bit bigger living space, maybe a house someday, who knows, than I will start to have big family parties… I shall make new traditions. Anyway Neptunus the king of the ocean was of course beautiful during the ceremony and at his confirmation party. Poor thing my mom had made a poem about him and his many qualities and we all sang except him that wanted to sink into the earth or something. Of course I managed to have a little accident, the zipper on my antic dress broke in front of everyone as I was opening the window. The most important thing about this all was how everyone helped out in making this possible, even my neighbor let me keep my bed in her flat because my flat is small and I had to rearrange everything to fit all these people in here….

My birthday was a bit in hiding, because it was my sons day, he was to shine… I don’t understand people that don’t cherish their birthdays. I think it is cool to have a day that is mine mine mine…. Moreover, I get to have a cake, always, no matter what. For an artist, writer or a poet age is good, because it creates a depth, the knowing we want to share..

The crime of silence when we should speak out

I saw a brilliant documentary a few nights ago about the vagina monologues. A true inspiration in action. I had in my own little everyday word forgotten how many women suffer because SOME men believe they have ownership over them. Suffer because of the shame of the unspeakable violence brought upon them. It is so easy to forget things in our world if they don’t inflict on our personal life directly. It is so easy to fall into the pit of roughhouses and close the heart and mind to other perspectives. I had become fed up with the feminist movement; our world is a bit out of balance still because the changes different thinking has brought about. I personally don’t think the best or the only solution is to abandon motherhood for carrier oriented thinking. I don’t think that is what all women want, it would also be nice to see a world where there was a choice and respect for those that want to stay at home. That is also work, but not highly appreciated because the lowest wages are for women that work as caregivers for our kids in day cares and elementary schools. So is that a reflection of how we look at homemakers, that looking after your kids is the least interesting work there is, the least valued work. I think so. Women have gotten so caught up in the male oriented thinking that they have forgotten the matriarch, how can we justify dumping our children and parents into institutes instead of making them a real home. I don’t understand it. I mean I want to be successful but isn’t one of the greatest successes to raise healthy children who will have the moral fiber to evolve beyond us?
I don’t understand why I should feel more of a person if I am working as a manger for other people than for example my family. I mean can’t I do both? No not really it is all or nothing at least in Iceland. But are we happy, we claim we are the happiest nation in the world, at the same time no other nation uses as many happy pills, and no other nation gives their kids as much Ritalin as we do. No other nation has as many women that fake satisfaction during sex, I wonder if that is also the case in the real life. What I like about the vagina monologues is that it addresses the silence. It gets people to talk about things that are shameful and often very painful. We need this sort of monologues in so many fields of our lives. We are living in a world out of tune with itself. Our is the path of self-destruction. We have to do something NOW or there will be very little left for the next generations, not only have we destroyed more than we can ever repaired when it comes to our planet but we have are responsible for much more damage. The crime of doing nothing when we know we should. The crime of silence when we should speak out. The crime of indifference to everything except material security, yet nothing is as frail as material security.

Diane999 - the Cobalto Saga

Diane999 the graphic novel I am developing with the Hand aka Maurizio di Bona is now being introduced online. Beautiful web and amazing drawings. Content flowing in, make sure to have a look when you can. I am only a humble writer in this project, but it is inspirational to draw words from the space the Hand has created.

In other news, the Tsunami video Jim Wrathall put so skillfully together with my tribute poem has been downloaded more then 11.000 times in less than a week.

Tsunami video

I am lacking words today. Been working with a friend Jim Wrathall on the making of a Tsunami video using a poem i wrote in a response to the second of christmas disaster. He added a new dimension to these words. Even brought me almost to tears. Tonight i fear that many more will suffer in this region that has already suffered so much. My heart goes out for all of them. I wish i was there so i could help. But i am stuck here and all i got to offer is hope in those darkest of times. Click here to see the video. Jim did an amazing work combining photos, art, sound and my voice into something beyond words.

riding high on the wings of my muse

Most people that I know think that I might be a little bit to active, some even think that I am a super woman, but hell no I am just intoxicated by the movement of life within and around and NO I am not pregnant I am just filled with the holy muse of creation. Gosh that sounds quite absurd. The chameleon strikes again, bleeds into the picture like sweet water drop into salt water.
I am such a lucky person; I get to be driven, with a force beyond greed and sometimes ego:) By the force of the muse of creativity. It is quite merciless sometimes. I am always working because I am what I am, art. Everything I do is a reflection of my art and my art is a reflection of me and so everything I do is artistic. lol. How brilliant, so I am the canvas, I am the empty page, the silence, until I fill it with me. How egocentric this sounds though. I am possessed with the spirit of creativity and it is intense. But before I started this rant I just wanted to share a few of the things I have been up to in the last month or so in servitude of the muse.
First of all I have been doing some groundwork for Diane, a graphic novel born in the mind and soul of Maurizio di Bona, he has set up a brilliant website to explain the concept, the evolution and lots of goodies. I was invited to take send work to the newest issue of Poems Niederngasse in the Pancultural Exploration of Love Supplemental issue. What better way to start spring than to think of love and to explore it through the eyes of so many brilliant writers the contributing editor Annette Marie Hyder had gathered. I got one article and one poem plus a couple of artworks in it. A warm thank you to the editor for remembering me. In addition, I have a few articles in the next Grapevine and the fancy title Art Correspondent and the pick of the week online.
And next week I will publish 10 books by myself in Icelandic, they are finally the way I want them and this week I have been hand stitching and cutting all sorts of paper, gold, transparent, silver, recycled and seeing it come together, what a wonderful feeling. These books are only in Icelandic and the result of many many years of gathering my work from all different places and bringing them home within their theme and the shape on the page….. I will make them available online in e-book format for those curious enough to bother download it. And I have translated 2 poems by Diane di Prima to Icelandic, and it was such joy. Her work is so brilliant. What a voice, what a warrior of brutal honesty. Working on getting her work published in Iceland. None of her work has been published here and as a matter of fact very few USA poets have been translated to this ancient sound.

The many faces of insanity

I have been to many events in the last month or so, seen 3 plays in less than a week where the central theme is tragedy and the insanity of love. One of the plays I saw was simply brilliant By The Bog of Cats by an Irish playwright; Marine Carr. In the production of that play everything conspired to perfection and I was deeply moved. Then I saw another play dealing with almost identical emotions and levels of insanity and it was one of the most boring things I have ever seen, I couldn’t wait to get out of there, but when I was watching the other play I hoped it wouldn’t end. I was ready to see it again and again. Now what makes and breaks a play, I think it must be the manuscript and then all the other important elements. Now I am supposed to write about the play I didn’t like and I am not sure if I want to do it. Maybe it is just simply better to leave it in silence
Just after I came home from the theatre I watched the film the Butterfly Effect with Neptunus, when it started I thought, oh no another thing about insanity and its many ugly faces. But the film turned out to be good, I mean it had a bit of mystery in it and was almost mythological at times, specially when it was over and it all started to make sense. I very rarely watch TV or use my DVD player; most of the films I have watched in the last months are political. What a geek I am. Anyway the best part about last night was the simple fact that because Neptunus and me watch so rarely films or TV it was a special moment. We discussed the film after it and the fact how often the TV is turned off compared to most homes we know. We always have our heads stuck in the computers. At least we are doing something, not only receiving, not like vegetables having to be spoon-fed with information.

Being a writer

Even if I had pretty much made up my mind when I was 14 that I was going to dedicate my life to the muse of poetry, I got bored with it when I had achieved to have my first book of poetry published when I was 21 by the largest publisher in Iceland at that time. I wanted to explore more creative sides of myself. And so I did. It wasn’t until about a year ago that I called upon the muse of writing. I had finally made up my mind about what I wanted to choose of the very many different creative expressions I had experimented with through the years. It is a work of much solitude, but at the same time it requires life to be explored and tasted by all the senses.

Ever since I called upon the muse of writing and the muse of poetry. (They are not the same), I have been sorting through the various qualities of material and ideas that have piled up in my computer through the years. It has been a massive process, because I am not only processing the written words of almost two decades, but also many emotional attachments to them. As a result of all this work I have one novel, 10 small books of poetry on different themes and a handful of short stories. Once I have got these published I will be able to start writing my new novel. I mean it is impossible to get pregnant while giving birth… even if I am sure there is at least one freak incident in our human history of that too.

I am now an art correspondent for the Icelandic Grapevine and it has forced me out of my solitude into the whirlwind of other people’s creations. I like that challenge, part of it is to be a critic and I am a little bit freaked out about it, it is a lot of responsibility to be in that role. I promise myself not to be judgemental, but rather act like an observer. Try to be transparent about it, I mean I can never really write about anything that is not coloured by my own self, viewpoints and opinions.

Soon I shall be walking a shoreline of another country, feeling, sensing the smell of the ocean, the smell of citrus and feeling the fingers of the sun play with my hair.

the King of the Oceans

Once was swimming in my belly
I dreamt him
He had such long eyelashes
that they made it feel as if i had butterflies in my belly
I knew how he looked like
I knew how his deep blue eyes
would change the shades of everything around me
once he would enter the world
In my dreams he often gave me messages
He said: My name shall be Neptunus
I said: But that is too strange, let me find a name
He said: Look at the planets
I forgot the message but
I dreamt again and he had taken the Goddess of dreams with him
They showed me black on white the Name
and so it is that the one that once reigned over the oceans
is yet again among us
but no longer a God but a mortal being
but the ocean is still in his blue eyes

The Diary of the Chameleon

As I am typing this my novel is being prepared for publishers. It is truly a miracle that I ever finished it. It took me 17 years to find the right voice in it. Its live is taking on many shapes and forms. Maybe because it is about the chameleon element in the person it is written about, maybe that is why it is taking so many forms and shapes. It is the Icelandic version that is ready now. I still got about 70 pages left of it to translate. Once that is done it will be ready to shed its skin again into a new body. The body of another story; Cobalto. Don't miss that transformation. It will be something truly special. Sometimes when you permit someone else to enter into the creative process. True alchemy happens.

Adventures what are they?

I don't know really, but I think it is something like this; My adventures usually happen in relation to the Internet. Maybe because through it I travel. I get sucked into it, as if I am but a blood-cell being pumped trough the great heart of it. I don't see the Internet as anything then a living organism. Maybe because I have met so many people through it. Many are and will always be virtual. But even through the virtual friendship there is something real about it. Sometimes much more real then the relations I have with people I interact with on daily bases in the not so virtual world. Through the virtual the not so virtual the so called real stuff has happened. Projects happen, people happen, travel happen, things materialise. I think the Internet is a materialisation of the collective consciousness. I think the reason why everything is happening so fast, is because we are connecting much quicker then ever before. I think the Internet has made our world real. It has enabled us to see much further into other countries through the eyes of the real people living there. And thus I love the Internet, it has made my life a living adventure.

we must always remember..

..to never give up

I had not met with my fellow radicals for more then a month. Reason: January happened. It is my month of introspection. I had hardly been out of the house. I worked like a maniac on my novel, the diary of the chameleon. It is in its final prove in icelandic but i had to trow away my previous english translation. Why: it sucked; and i had changed the book so much since i translated it that it was not the same. so 35000 words out the window... what a good feeling. ugly little bastards when they are out of proportion. oh how can i say such a thing. one should love they children no matter if misfits.

So i met with my fellow raidcals at the radical center and there was a good group of the same faces that are doing things at the edge of the legal. Storming our rather ugly city with messages to our sleeping brothers and sisters. Maybe the words contain a magic formula that might wake them up.

I love this city; even if it is ugly; it is gray, oh it is gray during winter. But it has mountains hugging its bordres and the ever shifting color of the ocean. The geese at the pond have in a charming way lost their mind from hunger and attack the hands that feeds them. It has very few things for the eye but yet those ugly things in a pile are my Reykjavik and i love the things under the crust. The nests; the eccentric people in them; and the ravens.

Á ströndinni er selshamur ......

Does Joy B have a twin sister?

I woke up this morning with this strange feeling in my belly. I dreamt that i had a twin sister, she was acting a lot nicer then me. She gave me the creeps to be honest, total optimist and never cranky. She was smiling at me and saying things like, "wow your hair is perfect and where did you get such cool dr martins:" she was only saying to be kind to me. I woke up and i wasn't sure if this had been a dream or if she is really out there somewhere. Maybe in a parallel universe!!! Maybe when i run down to the bakery, i might run into her. No this is just a dream. There could never be two me!

wanderlust

Ok i admit it, i have wanderlust again. it means i got to wander off my island, but i can't just yet. got to enjoy the fact there are ONLY 280.000 people on the whole island. got to be thankful for the fact we are all related in one way or another. and if you meet some person for the first time you will after about 10 minutes find at least one person you both know quite well.

I wonder if one can get a cultural claustrophobia. last night a girl from Canada came for a visit, she had with her a video with a recording of TV show about Iceland, i happened to be in it and that is how we got to know each other, she found me on the internet. anyway most of my guests in Iceland are not from Iceland. all my Icelandic friends are too busy to come over for dinner or a visit. so thank god for the internet yet again... providing me with guests to my humble house once in a while.
it was nice to chat with someone that is for sure not related to me at all. but perhaps has more thought and ideas in common with me then most Icelanders....

anyway seeing myself on that Canadian TV show with French subtitles was funny
i wish i had a copy of it so i could laugh at it with my virtual friends that i am not sure if are real or hidden people...

oh free me from this wanderlust and let me go find my hidden friends in the house cliffs......

the Spell

eARTh Day Poster

I created this poster for for this years Earth day. There is still time to take part if you are an artist. Go here to find out how you can be part of it.

Vikings on rollerblades!!!

Emotional smothering

winter

where are you
drifting in the cold
in the hot
not lost i hope

do the trains sing
on the tracks
are you onboard
driving towards a new destiny

where are you
as the cocoon of winter
lifts me up
and i am floating
in a deshavu sort of reality

look, who's talkin'!

Say Cheese

doing everything else then i should be doing....

.... who doesn't know this rebellious and well silly kind of behaviour.....

I should be translating my novel to english.... and i do spend a fair amount of time every day doing just that....
.....but it is just sometimes so BORING,,,, so i find myself doing everything else...... then just that...
for example, i use the internet a lot that is google to see if i have the correct term for things in english
so today i looked up hair rolls in goggle images and yes hair rolls are indeed hair rolls as i thought.... now i should have gone straight back to WORD but did i ??? hell no.... i started to look at very boring photos of hair rolls ..... i did find a hillarious website with before and after at some local hair dresser somewhere in little town in smallville state... what ever,,,, but do you see my problem... tonight i went to look for a little heart because i couldn't be bothered to make one.... and what did i end up doing.... downloading all the images i could find of ... cupit and pshyce.... and that took me at least an hour... that i could have used translating...... arggg and what am i doing now.... writing in my virutal diary that no one reads....
that's it ..... }!L£&$(*$@£@*($&E*(@H@I$£&@(J

Love is .......

A group of professional people posed this question to a group
of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?" The answers they
got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.
See what you think:

....."When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over
and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it
for her all even when his hands got arthritis, too. That's Love.
Rebecca - age 8

....."When someone loves you, the way they say your name is
different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving
cologne and they go out and smell each other." Karl - age 5

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she
takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening
presents and listen," Bobby - age 7

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend
who you hate," Nikka - age 6

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still
friends even after they know each other so well." Tommy - age 6

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone
else kissing me to sleep at night." Clare - age 6

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him
alone all day." Mary Ann - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and
little stars come out of you" Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't
think it's gross." Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you
mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget," Jessica - age 8

TSUNAMI PHOTOS

This website displays 20 sets of before and after photos of the tsunami disaster from air. It wasn't until i saw these images, specially those from Indonesia that i fully understood how devastating the wave was.

TheSun

I don't know if you believe me
but i had started to believe that i would never see the sun again

this is how the weather has been for the last 2 months



Yesterday the sun showed her beautiful face, i went spellbound
to the ocean, i had not seen the ocean for about 2 months as well.
And my heart was filled with birds of spring, even if i know there
aint no spring yet. But that is how i felt. I felt as if it was possible
for theSun to be part of my life again. And she was dancing on the
currents of the ocean, and the rocks in the bay had ice as if
glazing and the seaweed felt so funny to walk on.
it was dead cold but now i am a believer. in theSun



isn't it just perfect..... i would have stayed for hours if the daylight would have lasted that long:)

Joy B is a star

Joy B is born under the sign of Scorpio and jumped fully grown out of the head of her father theHand somewhere in Italy after having been within the Womb of Creation for many many years. She is truly a remarkable child. Full of wisdom and strange other worldly prankster beauty.

evolution

viva the internet

the interesting part about the internet and the lighthouse we place there
is that many people are drawn to our world
that we might never have met
our creations never taken place
and so hail to the internet
to this manifestation of the collective
of the consciousness
of the dreams
and the speed
is faster then light

everything we ever thought
impossible
swirling curling through the night
into the dawn
of the possible

And the dark is multicolored fireworks

My heart is with all those suffering in our world. I think that we need to nurture those feelings of compassion that are blossoming within now. I think also it is important to nurture hope, joy and love. Not only now but always. I am vegetarian, been so for a long time. So i am not one of those that have to go on a diet after the holidays. But we didn't eat grass, or leaves as our festive food. I am a vegetarian but not a rabbit. OK. Since i am the only one that know how and can make myself happy i made sure to give myself a couple of brightmas gifts. I am totally thrilled with my new toy. Sometimes i think that i might be a bit abnormal because i really don't feel like i fit within any category. I love technical toys. I feel ever so happy if i get a good printer or a scanner. I love my laptop, i stroke it like a pet and say, "you are so beautiful, so fast, so swift" mmmm lets play darling. Well so i got a digital camera from myself this brightmas and it is so much fun, i have downloaded 350 photos on my puter. If you have good bandwidth then you should download my new years eve movie. If not then here are a few from the multicoloured sky. Icelanders have a tradition to blow up fireworks like no other nation at new years eve. Happy new year from Joy B and her creators.....



New Years Eve 2004 : 3,9 MB quicktime movie