Exhibition: Imagine Visionary Animals, by Erla Haraldsdottir

The Origins Centre is excited to present a site-responsive temporary exhibition with Berlin and Johannesburg-based Icelandic artist Erla S. Haraldsdóttir.

The exhibition is on the one hand informed by the hues of materials composing the physical exhibition space of the new wing, and on the other hand underscoring the museum’s core themes – cave paintings and rock engravings. This body of work departs from cave formations. By balancing photorealist and symbolic realism Haraldsdóttir returns to her longstanding investigations into how images can serve as portals – connecting cultural symbols, archetypes, and lived experience across time and place. Through this distinct form of ocular magical realism, the exhibition acknowledges stone surfaces as humankind’s original canvas through an interplay of colour, transparency, light, reflection, and spatial perception.

Curated by Jonatan Habib Engqvist. Supported by The Icelandic Visual Arts Council Erla S. Haraldsdóttir is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work investigates the boundaries between personal memory, ancestral narrative, and collective myth. Using painting, drawing, printmaking, and collage, Haraldsdóttir draws on diverse visual languages - combining elements of figurative painting with experimental processes, often shaped by site, context, or archival material. Her practice frequently explores the transformative potential of colour and light, and the interplay between materiality and storytelling.

Enquiries: tammy.hodgskiss@wits.ac.za

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