The Exhibit is Inside an EIMSKIP Container on Loan for
the Show at CSP.

Bogi Bogason, EIMSKIP motorman and Jona Hansen, A?B Deck Hand Aboard the ‘EIMSKIP.

Captain Karl Gudmundsson. Photo of the Captain Taken Yesterday by Levesque.  (L)

By Carol McCracken  (Post # 2,534)

The public is invited to attend the opening reception for the unique and not to be missed Icelandic Photography exhibit today, Friday, September 30, 2016 from 6:00 – 8:000 pm at Congress Square Park.  The exhibit is a mix of portraits and landscapes images taken by Justin Levesque.  The show opened on September 27 and runs through October 12, 2016.

The photographs were taken during a nine-day trip a year ago from Portland to Iceland aboard an EIMSKIP container ship – the MS Selfoss. Since the container line doesn’t take passengers, these photographs on exhibit at Congress Square Park are a rare look at the overall experience through the sensitive lens of Levesque.

Levesque, who has a BFA ih Photography from the University of Southern Maine, said his biggest concern about the trip involved his interactions with the crew.   “They turned out to be great.  It was like a big summer camp,” he said yesterday afternoon.  There was rain, wind and rough seas, but he was never concerned about the weather conditions  while en route.

Levesque has long held an “obsession”  with Iceland.  Prior to this voyage last fall, he’d already been in Iceland three times.  He took both digital and film cameras on this last trip.  The film camera was a Mamiya RZ67. and the digital camera a Cannon-Mack 111.  He waited to take the portraits until the last two days of the voyage.  Taking portrait photographs with a film camera is a slow process and the crew who knew him by then was much more patient during the process.

This exhibit is independent of the events in Portland this week – including the Arctic Council meetings set to begin next week.  It was funded by two grants – one from the Maine Humanities Council and the other from  a Kindling fund from the nearby Space Gallery. EIMSKIP loaned the container in which the exhibit is housed to Levesque.

Levesque has signed on for a trip to the Arctic circle in June of 2017 aboard the “Antiqua to take photographs again.  All of the photographs in this exhibit are for sale. The viewing schedule is as follows:  Monday Closed; Tues, Wed, Thurs, noon – 5;00 pm; Friday 2 – 8 pm; Sat & Sun 11 am – 4:00 pm.  Appt: j@icelandx207.com