Review and photos by Jennifer Zoltek. Courtesy of the National Museum of Iceland.

The National Museum of Iceland is currently displaying a selection of photographs featuring children at work in Iceland, primarily at sea, from 1930 to 1950. The title of the exhibition is “Child labour or training for life?”—which is what visitors are bound to ask themselves after being faced with the intensity of the photographs.

The photographs on display document the working circumstances and child rearing in an era where child labor was not questioned at all, even if the physical and mental health of a young child was in danger. This raises the question of where the boundaries between educating work participation and child labor lie.

The photographs illustrate the life of children on trawlers; you see children assisting the fishermen, cleaning the deck, pulling the net, processing fish and sleeping on the wooden planks of the deck.

Magnús is the boy on the right.

Moving slowly along the rows of photographs, the story of Magnús Óskar attracts my attention. Magnús was only six when his father brought him onboard a trawler in 1927.

Out at sea, everyone was expected to work, regardless whether they were tall enough to reach the gunwale. Yet Magnús was full of anticipation when he stepped onto the deck for the first time, as the text supplementing the photograph explains.

This little kid, Magnús Óskar, smiles at me from several photographs, implying that he likes adventures and being a fisherman. But his story ends with a photograph from 1928 and I wonder what became of him.

Including biographical details of the people in the photographs, the exhibition is made accessible to visitors on an almost personal level. It prompts the viewer to consider where he or she stands on the issue of child labor.

In addition to the photographs, most of which were taken by Gudbjartur Ásgeirsson, fisherman’s clothing, a boat and various fishing equipment decorate the exhibition hall. The scarcely-lit room exudes an atmosphere of being out at sea in times past.

Extending beyond the visual dimension, you can also listen to the stories of Icelandic children working at sea and their personal experiences. The audio is played on a loop in every corner of the room, but unfortunately only in Icelandic.

In keeping with the topic, the images are raw and depict a certain way of life in Iceland which is long gone and with which I have no personal connection. Yet the emotions that they communicate make me reflect on a reality previously unknown to me.

All of the photographs impress through their black-and-white color and tone of sepia and also the large formats emphasize the rawness. Not to mention the revealing moment of real life—these scenes weren’t created with the aid of actors or artificial settings.

The intensity of the exhibition is in strong contrasts with exhibitions that I’ve visited before.

You see young adolescents smiling proudly, holding fish in their arms which are bigger than they are. But you also recognize exhaustion in the faces of the six and seven-year-olds, the sons of captains, machinists and cooks. 

Laws against child labor and regulations on the appropriate working hours, payment and working conditions were non-existent in Iceland until 1932. At first the regulations were vague and factory work for children, 15 and younger, wasn’t illegalized until the late 1950s. It wasn’t well received with many families back then, who needed every helping hand to make ends meet.

Although the approximately 35 exhibits are supplemented with information in Icelandic and English and additional information about the children and fishermen in the pictures can also be found, you leave the exhibition with a handful of questions.

While that may be the intention of the curators, I would also have liked some answers to questions such as: Did the children regard the trawlers as a natural playground? How dangerous was it for them to be onboard? Did they continue to work as fishermen? Why did they only receive half the wage of grown-up fishermen?

Maybe if I had understood the stories that were played on a loop, some of my questions would have been answered.

The National Museum of Iceland is located on Sudurgata 41, 101 Reykjavík and is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm. Tickets cost ISK 600 (USD 4.78, EUR 3.57) and are valid for all exhibitions.

The exhibition “Child labour or training for life?” is on display until September 6.

JZ – jennifer@icelandreview.com

Jennifer Zoltek is studying online editing in Germany and will be working as an intern for Iceland Review Online until mid-June.