Reykjavik, the eternal teenager

‘Reykjavik, the eternal teenager’ is one of the ten drawings by Amandine Maria illustrating the book “Arctique” in the “Odyssée, villes-portraits” collection.

This collection offers original and sensitive journeys through ten cities linked by the continuous thread of movement.

The texts are written by journalists, writers, academics and architects. The illustrations are by artists.

Amandine Maria draws on her hybrid background. She combines her artistic experience with her thinking in the fields of landscape and architecture.

Amandine Maria describes her world as a walk that culminates in subjective maps or ‘walking maps’. She simultaneously offers an aerial reading of the territory, enabling us to situate the locality in its environment, and an immersive reading as close as possible to the terrain and local life.

The artist’s visual work is particularly well suited to this editorial project. Her use of Indian ink and watercolour, and her acute sense of nuance, lightness and fragility, capture the ephemerality of Arctic landscapes. In fact, the book is a subtle reminder of how these areas are being impacted by the consequences of climate change and the erosion of biodiversity.

‘Reykjavik, the eternal teenager’ illustrates a text in which Jean-Christophe Salaün shares her views on the sociological, economic and political aspects of this territory of 70 inhabitants.