Pétur Thomsen is an Icelandic photographic artist, born in Reykjavik in 1973.
He lives and works in south of Iceland. In 2004 he received his master’s degree in fine arts from the École Nationale Supérieur de la Photographie in Arles France.
Pétur Thomsen focuses on the disruption of nature, both in his photographs of the Kárahnjúkar power plant project area in his series Imported Landscape, and in his works Umhverfing (an Icelandic word for the state between nature and environment) and Ásfjall (Mt. Ásfjall). These works have been exhibited in venues such as the National Gallery of Iceland, the Reykjavík Museum of Photography, and the National Museum of Iceland. And in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world. Such as Photoforum PasqArt Switzerland, Les Rencontre d’Arles France, Musée de l’Elysée Switzerland, Musée national d’Histoire et Art Luxembourg, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt Germany, Photo Gallery International Tokyo Japan.
In his latest series Landnám (Settlement) Pétur Thomsen is observing or rather operating as an investigator out in the field during the winter nights, investigating three aspects of land use in the south of Iceland: mines, tree plantation and farmers use of land. Using photographic flash equipment to partially light up the dark northern night of the Icelandic winter.
Pétur has been nominated and received numerous awards and prizes. In 2004 he won The 10th LVMH young artists’ award. In 2005 he was selected by the Musée de L’Élysée in Lausanne for reGeneration 50 Photographers of Tomorrow. The exhibition Imported landscape in the National Gallery of Iceland was selected as the exhibition of the year 2010 in Iceland.
Pétur Thomsen is a founding member and former Chairman of FíSL, The Icelandic Contemporary Photography Association, www.fisl.is
Pétur Thomsen is one of the founders and co-director of The Icelandic Photography Festival. www.tipf.is
Pétur gives lectures and teaches workshops both in Iceland and abroad.
He lives in the south of Iceland, in an eco-village called Sólheimar.
2001 – 2004 MFA, École Nationale Supérieur de la Photographie (ENSP), Arles, France.
1999 – 2001 BTS photographie at the Ecole Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques, Montpellier, France.
1998 – 1999 Art history and archaeology at the Université Paul Valéry Montpellier III, France.
2024 Landnám / Settlement, Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
2024 Transformation, Gallerie Käytävä, Helsinki, Finnland
2023 Imported Landscape - Annexe I, Listamenn Gallerí, Reykjavík, Iceland
2018 Duclair, The town of Duclair, France
2016 Landskrona Foto Festival, Sweden
2016 Listasafn Árnesinga, Iceland
2015 Culturescapes, Basel, Switzerland.
2015 Culturescapes, Bern, Switzerland.
2015 Warsaw Festival of Art Photography, Poland.
2014 Í Upphæðum II,Listamenn Gallerí, Reykjavík, Iceland
2013 Imported Landscape, Festival Les Boreales, Caen, France.
2013 Í Upphæðum, Gallerí Gangur, Reykjavík, Iceland
2012 Imported Landscape, Les Rencontres d’Arles, France.
2011 Ásfjall, The National Gallery of Photography, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2010 The National Gallery of Iceland. Reykjavík, Iceland.
2010 Transfotografia, Gdansk, Poland.
2010 Reykjavík Museum of photography, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2010 Transphotographique, Lille, France.
2007 Gallery Turpentine. Reykjavík, Iceland.
2007 Camara Oscura, Madrid, Spain.
2006 PhotoforumPasquArt, Biel-Bienne, Switzerland.
2005 The National Gallery of Photography, National Museum of Iceland.
2005 Gallery Mustafa Ali, Damascus, Syria.
2005 NCCA-SpB, Kronstadt, Russia.
2004 Akureyri Art Museum. Akureyri, Iceland.
2003 The cultural center of Skriðuklaustur, Islande.
2003 Galerie du LAKANAL, Montpellier, France.
2024 20 Years of the Photo Gallery, National Museum of Iceland
2023-2028 Resistance, The House of Collections, National Gallery of Iceland
2022 high tide – low tide, Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
2022 Umhverfing 4, Ingjaldssandur, Iceland
2022 STAGED MOMENTS, National Gallery of Iceland
2020 North, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerði, Iceland
2020 Distance and Intimacy. Contemporary Icelandic Photography. Reykjavík Museum of Photography
2020 Landvist, Stóri-Klofi, Rangárþing ytra, Iceland
2020 Imprint, Gerðarsafn, Kópavogur Art Museum, Iceland
2020 NATURE - home and workplace, Nuuk Art Museum, Greenland
2019 In Transition, Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
2019 AMY'S DONATION, National Gallery of Iceland
2019 NATURE - home and workplace, Ljungbergmuseet, Sweden
2018 BLOSSOMING / Lífsblómið, National Gallery of Iceland
2018 No Man‘s Land – Where Beauty Alone Reigns? Reykjavík Art Museum, Iceland
2018 35/30, Hafnarborg Center of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnarfjörður Iceland
2018 Nature as Playground, The Museum of Photography, Seoul, South Korea
2018 Archeology for the Anthropocen, The Factory, Hjalteyri, Iceland
2018 This island Earth, Northen Photographic Center, Oulu, Finland
2018 Changes/Breytingar, The Permanent Mission of Iceland, Geneva, Switzerland
2018 NATURE - home and workplace, Johannes Larsen Museum, Denmark
2018 This island Earth, Reykjavík Photo Museum, Iceland
2017 - 2019 Treasures of a Nation, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík Iceland
2017 This island Earth, Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark
2017 Hverfing/Shapeshifting, Verksmiðjan Hjalteyri, Iceland
2016 Borrowed Time – Icelandic Artists Looking Forward. Scandinavia House, New York, USA
2016 Art for action, United Nations, New York, USA.
2016 Neige, Les Lilas, Frakkland.
2015 - 2020 Points of View, National Culture House, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2015 Coping with Distance, PhotoforumPasquArt, Biel/Bienne, Sviss.
2015 Rökkur – Nuit des Images, Musée de l‘Elysée, Sviss.
2015 ÍSÓ 2015, sumarsýning FÍSL, Ísafjörður.
2015 Enginn staður, Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður.
2015 Steps forward:facing the Arctic climate. Gallery Fyra Fem, House of Sweden, Washington, DC, USA.
2015 Warsaw Festival of Art Photography, Poland
2015 Eitt leiðir af öðru, Gallerí Gamma, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2015 Ákall, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerði, Iceland.
2014 Ummerki sköpunar, Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland.
2014 Viewfinder, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China.
2014 Viewfinder, Riga Photomonth, Riga, Latvia.
2014 Contemporary Nordic Photography, Scandinavian House, New York, USA.
2013 distURBAN, Musée National d’Histoire et Art, Luxembourg.
2013 Icelandic Photography, Hippolyte Gallery, Helsinki Finland.
2013 Nuit de la Photo, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Sviss.
2012 Tulca Festival of Visual Arts, Galway, Ireland.
2012 Regards sur Arles, Galerie espace pour l’art, Arles, France.
2012 Voies Off, Arles, France.
2011 Backlight Photo Festival, Tampere, Finland.
2011 Frontiers of Another Nature, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt. Germany.
2011 awakening, Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland.
2010 Renversements de faits / Abstractions photographiques, Le Château d’Eau, Toulouse, France.
2010 Nordens U-land? - Isländsk konst i kristid. Fargfabriken Norr, Östersund, Sweden.
2010 The Sovereign European Art Prize, Barbican Centre, London, UK.
2010 On painting, pictorial canon and contemporary image, EMAT Valencia, Spain.
2009 EARTH, Museum of Photography Thessaloniki, Grikkland.
2009 Fototriennale.dk,Filosofgangen, Brandts Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark.
2009 ReGeneration, Preus Museum, Norway.
2009 You are more beautiful than a butterfly, Gallery Turpentine, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2009 Flash at a Moment of Danger, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerði, Iceland.
2009 Minjar, Natural History Museum of Kópavogur, Kópavogur, Iceland.
2009 ReGeneration, Albin O Kuhn Library and Gallery, College Park, Maryland, USA.
2009 ReGeneration, Hoffman Gallery Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon, USA.
2009 ipseity – abeyance, Nordic House, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2009 Dreams of the Sublime, Kuntsi museum of Modern Art, Vaasa Finland
2008 Dreams of the Sublime and Nowhere. Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2008 Endurkast / Reflection, The National Gallery of Photography, Reykjavík.
2008 Dreams of the Sublime and Nowhere. Centre for fine arts, Brussels, Belgium.
2007 Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan.
2007 Climax, Festival Voies Off, Arles, France
2007 Centre Culturel Marcel Pagnol, FOS/mer,France.
2007 Sæból. The Nordic house. Reykjavík, Islande.
2007 « L’esprit dans l¹escalier ». DRAC, Aix en Provence, France.
2007 Arrebato. Camara Oscura galeria de arte. Madrid, Spain.
2007 ReGeneration, 50 Photographers of Tomorrow. Art Center, Pasadena, California, USA.
2006 ReGeneration, 50 Photographers of Tomorrow. Art institutuin of Boston, Massachusets, USA.
2006 ReGeneration, 50 Photographers of Tomorrow. Pingyao Festival, Pingyao, China.
2006 ReGeneration, 50 Photographers of Tomorrow. Aperture Foundation, New York, USA.
2006 “PIE” exhibition, Tokyo, Japan.
2006 Hvörf, video installation. City hall, Reykjavík, Iceland.
2005 ReGeneration, 50 Photographers of Tomorrow. Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milano, Italia.
2005 ReGeneration, 50 Photographers of Tomorrow. Musée de l’Elysée, Switzerland.
2005 Instituto francés de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
2005 Galería El Ojo Ajeno, Peru.
2004 The 10th LVMH young artists’ award winner. Galerie du Pont-Neuf. Paris, France.
2004 Bagration & Harmenszonn and Voies Off - The Fringe Festival - Arles, festival off des Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles. France.
2004 Villa Medicis, Académie de France à Rome. Rome, Italy.
2004 Espace Van Gogh, Arles, France.
2003 Voies Off - The Fringe Festival - Arles, festival off des Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles. France.
2003 TEC-TECE. Rencontre Internationale de la Photographie d’Arles. France.
2002 L’architecture de l’abbaye Montmajour et de son environnement. L’abbaye de Montmajour, France.
2002 TEC-TECE. Rencontre International de la Photographie d’Arles, France.
2002 4 points de vues photographiques. La Galerie Photo. Montpellier, France.
2020 Work stipendium, The Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2018 Work stipendium, The Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2016 Work stipendium, The Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2014 Work stipendium, The Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2013 Icelandic Art Fund
2012 Travel grant, Muggur.
2012 Nominated for the Prix Pictet
2011 Imported Landscape in the National Gallery of Iceland.
Exhibition of the year 2010 in Iceland.
2011 Nominated for the HBC Award 2011. France
2011 Nominated for the Hasselblad Award 2011
2011 Icelandic Art Center. Project grant.
2011 Nature preservation fund, Iceland. Project grant.
2010 Nomination for the Deutsche Börse photography prize.
2010 Myndstef. Cultural Fund, Iceland
2010 Short listed for Sovereign European Art Prize, London, England.
2010 Six months work stipendium, The Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2009 South Iceland cultural found.
2009 Reykjavík cultural fund.
2008 National museum of photography,Iceland. Project grant.
2008 Six months work stipendium, The Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2007 Myndstef. Cultural Fund, Iceland.
2007 Penninn, Cultural Fund, Iceland.
2006 Six months work stipendium, The Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2005 The Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2005 Margrét Björgólfsdóttir, memorial foundation. Reykjavík, Iceland.
2004 The 10th LVMH young artists’ award winner, France.
2021-2023 Board Member of Sím, The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists
2015- Co-Director, Co-Founder, The Icelandic Photography Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland
2012 - 2015 Co-Founder, Board Member, Photography Days Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland
2018 - 2019 Chairman of the Education Board, The School of Photography, Reykjavik, Iceland
2013 - 2019 Education Board Member, The School of Photography, Reykjavik, Iceland
2007 Founding member of Físl, The Icelandic Contemporary Photographers Association
2007 - 2015 Board member of Físl, The Icelandic Contemporary Photographers Association
2011 - 2015 Chairman of Físl, The Icelandic Contemporary Photographers Association
2018 Archeology for the Anthropocene, The Factory, Hjalteyri, Iceland
2016 Vennmyndir, Listamenn Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland
2013 - 2017 The School of Photography, Reykjavik, Iceland, Annual Review Committee Member
2012 - The School of Photography, Reykjavik, Iceland, workshop teacher
2015-2017 The Reykjavik School of Visual Arts, Reykjavik, Iceland, part-time teacher
2013 École supérieure d'arts & médias de Caen/Cherbourg, workshop teacher
2012 Iceland Academy of the Arts, Reykjavik, Iceland, workshop teacher
2011 TAMK, Tampere University of Applied Science, workshop teacher
2004/2006 Iceland Academy of the Arts, Reykjavik, Iceland, guest lecturer
2005 Kronstadt, National Center for Contemporary Art St.Petersburg Branch, Russia.
2003 The cultural centre of Skriðuklaustur, Egilsstaðir, Iceland.
2019 130 works from the collection of the National Gallery of Iceland, The National Gallery, Iceland
AMY‘S Donation, The National Gallery of Iceland
2018 Duclair : un regard islandais, Pétur Thomsen, Edition Octopus, France
Nature as a Playground - Korean and Nordic Contemporary Photogarphy, The Museum of Photography, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Hverfing Shape Shifting, Akademía skynjunarinnar, Reykjavík
2017 Esthétique de la photographie de chantier, dir. François Soulages & Angèle Ferrere, L‘Harmattan, France
2014 Landmark: The Fields of photography,Thames & Hudson.
2013 Nordic Now, norræn samútgáfa um norræna ljósmyndun. Umfjöllun.
C+ Fashion Week Paris, París Frakkland.
Photo RAW, Finnland.
Mois Européen de la Photographie, Luxembourg.
Nuit de la Photo, Sviss.
2012 KATALOG 24.3, Denmark.
Listgildir Samtímans, Handbók um samtímalist, Jón, B.K Ransu, Iceland.
„QU‘AVEZ-VOUS FAIT DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE?“ Actes Sud, Arles Frakkland.
Les Rencontres d‘Arles, Une École Française, Arles Frakkland.
The New York Timse/Science Times, China.
2011 Ásfjall, Pétur Thomsen, The National Museum of Photography, Iceland.
Blow magazine, Ireland.
L‘Architecture d‘Aujourd‘hui, #382, France.
awakening, Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland.
2010 Islande, le barrage de „nulle part“, Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir, in ARTnord 2010, France.
De Pictura en defensa de la Belleza, Espai Metropolita d‘Art de Torrent, Spain.
The 2009-10 Sovereign European Art Prize. London, England.
2009 Flash at a Moment of Danger, Listasafn Árnesinga, Iceland.
Afturgöngur og afskipti af sannleikanum, Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, National museum of Iceland.
2008 InfraMince, No 4. Umhverfing. Arles, France.
Icelandic Art News, The Witness, commissioned cover piece. CIA, Reykjavík, Iceland.
Endurkast / Reflection, The National Gallery of Photography, Reykjavík, Iceland.
Dreams of the Sublime and Nowhere,Bozar, Brussel.
Draumar um ægifegurð í íslenskri samtímalist, Reykjavík Art Museum.
2007 Tímabundið landslag, Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, Morgunblaðið, 29/09/07.
ARREBATO, Camara Oscura Galeria de Arte, Madrid, Spain.
WORK, Changing Faces. Leiden Holland.
2006 A strange place called nowhere by Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir in SHIFTS, Archives in dialogue and new identities in documentarism. i(p+r)/n 2nd Changing Faces Conference. Finland.
Kamera-Lehti, Islantilainen valokuva. Helsinki, Finnland.
PHaT PHOTO, Pretty Hot and Tempting Photo magazine. CMS Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. May-June 2006.
PHaT PHOTO, Pretty Hot and Tempting Photo magazine EXTRA. CMS Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. May 2006.
reGeneration 50 Photographers of Tomorrow 2005-2025. Aperture Foundation, NY, USA.
PORTRAIT de MANUFACTURE Jaeger-LeCoultre. Switzerland, March 2006.
Kárahnjúkar, Der kleine Bund, 28. January 2006, Switzerland.
2005 “Aðflutt landslag”, National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.
reGeneration 50 Photographers of Tomorrow 2005-2025. Thames & Hudson, London.
“Einn hinna ungu”, Páll Baldvin Baldvinsson, Dagblaðið Vísir, 18/08/2005.
“Hvernig höndla skal það óráðna”, Bergþóra Jónsdóttir, Morgunblaðið, 22/02/2005. Iceland.
Les cahiers de l’École de Blois – numéro 3, Les Éditions de l'Imprimeur, Paris, France, Janvier 2005.
2004 “Kárahnjúkar og kímnigáfa í list Péturs Thomsens og Louisu Matthíasdóttur”, Bergþóra Jónsdóttir, Morgunblaðið, 14/09/2004. Iceland.
"Antichambre/Anticamera", Éditions Actes Sud / École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie, for the exhibition "Antichambre/Anticamera", Académie de France in Rome Italy, Villa Médicis, June 2004.
The National Gallery of Iceland. Reykjavík, Iceland / The National Museum of Photography, Iceland
Le Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland / Musée National d‘Histoir et d‘Art, Luxembourg /
Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður Art Museum, Iceland / Reykjavík Museum of Photography /
Reykjavík Art Museum / PhotoforumPasquArt, Biel-Bienne Switzerland / La Galerie Photo. Montpellier,
France / L’abbaye de Montmajour, France / Art Museum of Garðabær, Iceland