Why we have chosen this woman?

For three reasons:

• Because she has made us know Iceland.
  
  
• Because she has played in a rewarded film.
  
  
• Because she is original in everything.

What are the main events of her life

 

• Bjork Gudmundsottir born in 1965 at Reykjavik in Iceland.
  
  
• At 11 years old she releases her first album : " Bjork "
  
  
• In 1986, she takes part in SugarCubes, a pop group of Iceland. The leader of this group marries her and she gives birth to a boy called Sindri
  
  
• In 1993 , she releases her first international album : " Debut "
  
  
• Follows " Post in 1995 and " Homogenic " in 1997
  
  
• Her last important event is her role in the Lars von trier ‘s film " Dancer in the Dark "

Her love for her country

Bjork has always wanted to make us discover her country: Iceland. Therefore, her music style has as goal to express the culture of Iceland. Before " Debut ", she wasn’t not really recognized through the world of music ‘ stars. But the energy she put inside this album has put her to the top of her glory. Now, we have another vision of this country that we saw as a little isle isolated from the rest of the world, we now recognize the Icelandic sound, which is a mix between traditional music and modern sounds, with a cold atmosphere. Moreover, the local artists can now have an international reputation. In exchange of this service, the Icelandic kingdom offered her an island near Iceland.

Why is she so original?

Bjork is a really strange singer: her personality, her culture and her tastes on clothes, songs, pictures are original and exceptional. For instance, her album covers are always amazing; on one of them, Bjork has just got out of bed and on another one she looks like a futuristic geisha. When Bjork is singing or going out, she is always well dressed, her clothes are beautiful, made by famous and original stylists like Jean Paul Gautier.

Her voice is very particular too, because it cannot be explained: to try to describe it, we can say that it’s a high-pitched voice, with a dramatic aspect; Moreover, she sings a lot of sad songs about love, lone person…

Then, we can speak about her music, because is probably the more interesting about her. Bjork is interested in the new technologies, that’s why her albums are good, because she mixes old and new sounds.

Dancer in the dark: a hard shooting for a very interesting movie

In 1999, Bjork created the original soundtrack of a lars von trier’s next film .A year after, she finally decided to play the main role in it. The movie is a musical, a comedy and a tragedy all in one. Selma, a tcheq halfblind woman, moves to America and works hard in a factory to earn enough money to save her son from going blind. Her spirit is always up, because she transforms every situation in a musical scene. One day, his neighbor robbed all she has earned, and when she wants to get it back, the tragic events begin to happen.

The film has a very dramatic end, and the role of Selma was very difficult for Bjork, because she has said that she was inside the character. That’s why the atmosphere on the shooting wasn’t very good, particularly between her and Lars Von Trier (she leaves the shooting several times). The film was very tiring for Bjork, because she didn’t play the role, she lived it.

" POST " album cover, 1995

When we have a look at this photography, we can see Bjork at the foreground and many colors at the background. She’s wearing an air mistress jacket and a sombrero. Behind her, there is a patchwork of different countries (like Japan, by the writing in the bottom left-hand corner).

First, we notice the tastes of Bjork about travels. Therefore, the jacket she’s wearing symbolizes the plane; the sombrero is also a typical travel object. Moreover, there is also a symbol of different cities of the world, by the patchwork at the background (like Tokyo, by the writing in the bottom left-hand corner).

Then, our attention is focused on Bjork, because she’s in the center of the photo, but also because the sombrero draws a circle around her (the sombrero contrasts with the black hair of Bjork);

This photo is a good representation of the bjork universe, because it’s at the same time original and beautiful, and shows the tastes of Bjork.

Patrice, Manuel, Aurélien

2000-2001