During a year-long sabbatical from teaching, Dr. Matt Willen traveled nine times to and around the Westfijords region in the northwest of Iceland, learning about how people lived in this little-known corner of the world and how life there has been affected by Iceland's participation in a global economy.
His photo-documentary explores the nature of life in the Westfijords, as is is now and as it used to be, and includes some of the distinctive characteristcs of what it is to live there, especially in light of the way Iceland and Icelanders have been portrayed in the past.
Dr. Willen will have copies of his monograph, An Other Iceland, on display and for sale at the event. Previews of the work may be viewed at the project website, http://focuswestfijords.com.
Dr. Willen is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Elizabethtown College. he has recently written a guidebook on hikes in the lower Susquehanna River Basin (60 Hikes in 60 Miles: Harrisburg). His photographs have been exhibited in venues such as the Susquehanna Art Museum, the State Museum of Pennsylvania and several smaller galleries in central Pennsylvania, as well as outside of the state.
