EXPLORE NORDIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Welcome to a unique celebration of Icelandic photography at M Art Project Space. From 25 January to 22 February we proudly host two exhibitions by Icelandic photographers.
Ragnar Axelsson’s (RAX) iconic black-and-white imagery captures the Arctic’s stark beauty and its people’s resilience, reflecting themes of time, climate, and survival.
Marta Margrét’s Confluence: Absence in Presence offers a contemporary, poetic perspective, blending minimalist monochromes of architecture and nature to explore flow, impermanence, and emotion.
Small and dynamic, M Art Project Space opens the door to vast stories and deep connections, bridging places and perspectives through the power of photography. We warmly invite you to experience these two remarkable exhibitions.
RAGNAR
AXELSSON
For over 40 years, Ragnar Axelsson, Rax (b. 1958), has been photographing the people, animals, and landscapes of the most remote regions of the Arctic, including Iceland, Siberia, and Greenland. Through stark black-and-white images, he captures the elemental human experience of nature at the edge of the livable world, making visible the extraordinary relationships between the Arctic’s inhabitants and their extreme environment—relationships now undergoing profound and complex changes due to unprecedented climate shifts.
In this exhibition, eight large-format photographs taken between1989 and 2019 in Iceland and Greenland are being displayed for the first time in Belgium during the Photo Brussels Festival 2025 at M Art Project Space. These striking images showcase the raw power and delicate fragility of the Arctic, highlighting its harsh landscapes and resilient creatures. Together, they offer a poignant glimpse in to nature’s elemental forces.
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Ragnar's photographs have been featured in LIFE, Newsweek, Stern, GEO, National Geographic, Time, and Polka, and have been widely exhibited and he has published eight books in various international editions. Among his numerous accolades are Icelandic photojournalism awards, an Honorable Mention in the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, the Grand Prize at Photo de Mer in Vannes, and Iceland’s highest honor, the Order of the Falcon, Knight’s Cross.
Ragnar is currently working on a three-year project documenting people’s lives in all eight countries of the Arctic. At this pivotal time, as climate change irrevocably disrupts the physical and traditional realities of their world, Ragnar is bearing witness to the immediate and direct threat that changes in the climate poses to their survival.
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More information on RAX's work www.rax.is and www.qerndu.is
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Photo: Courtesy of Qerndu Gallery
Marta Margrét
​Marta Margrét is an Icelandic artist and international lawyer based in Brussels, whose work explores the interplay of form, flow, and the subtle human connections that shape how we see the world.
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In her exhibition, Confluence: Absence in Presence, she examines how our memories and personal histories influence the way we perceive the urban and natural landscapes around us. By delving into the delicate connections between memory and perspective, architecture and nature, Marta reshapes familiar forms into poetic abstractions that invite deeper reflection.
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Influenced by the stark Arctic landscapes of her homeland and the structured geometry of urban life, Marta creates monochrome compositions that evoke impermanence and introspection. Her work weaves together the seen and unseen, encouraging viewers to reflect on the stories, emotions, and experiences that frame their perception of all things.
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Marta’s art reflects her unique perspective, shaped by her dual roles as an analytical thinker and introspective creator. Through her series, she invites audiences to pause and uncover the hidden layers of presence within absence, offering a meditative journey that connects memory, identity, and the human experience.
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Marta’s photography has been exhibited at art fairs, collective shows and photography festivals across Europe, earning recognition for its blend of minimalism and emotional depth. She has received honorable mentions from PX3 (Prix de la Photographie Paris) and her work is held in private collections across Europe and America. Rooted in her rich professional and cultural background, Marta’s journey in the art world continues to connect her to the international scene while preserving the introspective nature of her creations.
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See more on Marta Margrét's work at www.martamargret.com
