Reality and the imagined meet in the works of Judith Amalía Jóhannsdóttir and Maja Siska.

Maja Siska’s emphasis is on the material and the craftsmanship. She wants us to truly sense the work through our eyes and and with our hands. Similarly, she wants us to feel the origins of the material and the craftmanship. The focus is on the process itself.

“In German, there is the word ‘begreifen,’ which means both to touch and to understand. I strongly relate to that.”

Judith Amalía is fascinated by the magical moment, the instant when a gateway opens from the everyday world into the realm of dreams and fairy tales. Tiaras and magic wands are traditional symbols of fairy tales. The core of her work is handspun wool, created through free flow and lace knitting, where each stitch is crafted according to a predetermined pattern. This creates tension between two opposites, the magical and the everyday.

“The true fairy tales are not distant, they happen here and now. It is up to us to notice them and to turn every moment into a magical moment.”