Árni Gunnlaugsson

My father was born in the city of Hafnarfjörður on the 11th of March 1927. He completed his matriculation degree in 1947 and began his studies as a law student in the University of Iceland in the fall that same year. From there he graduated as a lawyer on January 22nd 1953 with the highest mark of all the law students that year and the previous one.

Law and politics
My father opened up his law office in Hafnarfjörður on the 8th of March 1953, the same year he graduated. In 1955 he traveled for one year to Germany to specialize further in his profession where he studied compensation law. In 1963 he got his license as primary court lawyer and is still at the age of 82 active in his field.

1958-1962 he was a town councilor in the city of Hafnarfjörður for the Democratic Party. On March 27, 1966 my father grounded the political party Félag Óháðra Borgara (The independent citizen’s party). The party candidated in the country district election 2 months after it was established that same year and received 25& of the votes making it a clear winner. As a result of the outcome of the election my father became a town councilor in the city of Hafnarfjörður for his party and served as such until 1982. Altogether he was in the town council for 20 years and during that time president of the town council for 13 years.

Photographer and publisher
My father has many interests and among them are photography and music. In 1960 he began taking photographs of senior citizens in the town of Hafnarfjörður and carried on until 1992 when he published the series of books "Fólkið i Firðinum" (The people of Hafnarfjörður). In the book series, 3 volumes, one will find 612 photographs of individuals and 750 brief biographies but on some photographs more than one person appears. Below you will find two images showing the front cover of his the first edition of his book and an image of page 19 in that same edition. The picture in the second image is taken 1960 and shows Anna Magnúsdóttir and her husband Þorgeir Þórdarson hey-making in the center of Hafnarfjörður.

Folkid i Firdinum

Above: The front page of the cover of his first book.
Below: Sample page out of his first book.

In addition to this he documented with his camera most of the photographs appearing in local political newspaper Borgarinn (The citizen). This was a newspaper which was published by his political party Félag Óháðra Borgara. Along with being in charge of all the photography in that newspaper he was the author of most articles during the lifetime of the newspaper.

Active exhibitor
So far my father has exhibited his work 3 times. His first exhibition took place in Góðtemplarahúsid in Hafnarfjörður 1979. The second one was in April 2007 in the senior citizens home Hrafnista in Hafnarfjörður.
His last one and the largest one so far was by invitation from The town of Hafnarfjörður which was celebrating its 100 year anniversary this year. It was decided to honor my father by offering him to set up a photo exhibition in Hafnarborg the town’s worldwide known Art & Culture Center. For Icelandic readers a message about the show appeared on the Art and Cultures center website, click here to view.
Below you can view slide shows covering this big event which I believe is fair to say was unique on this planet. As well there are links to other earlier photo exhibitions related material.

Links to slide shows and movie of his exhibitions and publication work.
->The publication of the book series Fólkid í Firðinum.
->Exhibition in Góðtemplarahúsið in Hafnarfjörður 1979.
->Exhibition in Hrafnista in April 2007.
->Exhibition in the Art & Culture Center Hafnarborg in Hafnarfjörður this year.
->Movie: Árni´s photography exhibition in Hafnarborg Art & Culture center june 2008.

Musician and composer
"The music is the vitamin for my soul" is a phrase often used by my father.
He is a musician, composer and a singer and has published his work on two cd´s and in two note books.
The first cd was "Þú fagra vor" (You beautiful spring) and the second one is called "Kveðjan mín" (My greeting).

My fathers music can be heard frequently on The Icelandic National Radio, RUV, and has been delivered in concerts by the Hafnarfjörður local male choir Þrestir (Catbirds) as well as in many funerals.

->View Þrestir perform 2 of his songs at the church Víðistaðakirkja in Hafnarfjörður in 2008 at their annual spring concert.


Listen to audio tracks from his cd´s and view a slide show of a recording session of his second cd
->Þú fagra vor (You beautiful spring) on a cd with same name.
->Kveðjan mín (My greeting) on a cd with same name.
->Slide show from the recording of the cd My greeting.

Listen to the male choir Þrestir sing his songs in Skáholt 2008
 ->Þú fagra vor (You beutiful spring)
->Vögguvísa (Lullababy)- a song dedicated to his son
->Til söngsins (A dedication to the song)
Arni Gunnlaugsson