{"id":29384,"date":"2026-11-06T20:53:35","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T02:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/?p=29384"},"modified":"2026-11-06T20:59:43","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T02:59:43","slug":"i-didnt-come-to-look-i-came-to-listen-to-the-icelandic-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.landuum.com\/en\/land-escape-en\/i-didnt-come-to-look-i-came-to-listen-to-the-icelandic-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"I didn\u2019t come to look, I came to listen to the Icelandic landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"

J. Cruz Garc\u00eda Albarado presents I didn\u2019t come to look, I came to listen to the Icelandic landscape<\/strong>, a personal account of his experience in Iceland from the perspective of landscape architecture and art therapy. Through different landscapes, he explores listening as a way of recognizing the rhythms of nature, the memory of places, and the emotions they evoke.<\/p>\n

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In early September 2026, I traveled to Iceland with a notebook, brushes, and watercolors. I carried with me the desire to listen to the landscapes of the north and allow myself to be surprised. As I felt the cold air and gazed at the mountains, a conversation began, which I recorded through words and sketches. Listening meant paying attention to the wind, the water, and the emotions that arose as I paused: my own inner landscape was revealed.<\/p>\n

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In Reykjav\u00edk, the exhibition Echolalia by artist Bj\u00f6rk moved me deeply. In her work Ancestress, a procession moves through the Icelandic landscape, weaving together music, bodies, and mountains. As I watched it, my mother came to mind as the central figure, my ancestress. I remembered her affection and the adventurous spirit I feel I inherited from her. I thought about origins and identity, and how much of those we love remains in our gestures and in the way we move through the world. In this way, those hills became intertwined with my own story.<\/p>\n

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On another occasion, I unexpectedly came across Casa Reciclada, a magical corner where I discovered another way of listening. Amid rusted metals and carved wood, I found myself immersed in a landscape of contrasts: sculptures with an enigmatic presence set against an intense, tranquil blue sea, beneath a clear sky and surrounded by shrubland.<\/p>\n

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I returned the following day and allowed myself to explore this world of stories with curiosity. The wind made some of the sculptures resonate; the faces on the masks seemed to speak of my fears and joys. Drawing them brought me closer to what that place awakened within me. Its mysterious atmosphere held a beauty that I gradually discovered by simply being there.<\/p>\n

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Another day, I visited the Reykjav\u00edk Botanical Garden, where my hosts generously invited me to join a tour with Danish gardeners. At the end of summer, flowers were still in bloom. Walking among them and sharing knowledge enriched my encounter with the landscape and the people who care for it.<\/p>\n

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From my perspective as a landscape architect, these experiences reminded me that design begins with listening: recognizing the rhythms of nature, the memory of places, and the emotions of those who inhabit them. When designing a space, this attentiveness can take shape through pathways that invite exploration, places to pause, and vegetation that allows people to perceive seasonal changes. Designing also means nurturing the conditions that enable each person to build their own connections with their surroundings.<\/p>\n

Design means listening to the landscape and nurturing the conditions that allow each person to build their own connections with their surroundings.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Through the windows of my hostel, I contemplated the sea and the mountains. The water changed with the wind: at times calm, at others turbulent. Facing this view, I took the final online assessment for my master’s degree in art therapy. I was bringing three years of effort and learning to a close, with the excitement of opening a new chapter in my life. The journey thus took on a deeply introspective meaning, so much so that I wrote the following words in a sketch: \u201cI close one path and cross the threshold; something of me remains behind, something of me begins.\u201d Today, I know that listening to the landscape also meant listening to what was beginning within me, an experience that gave me tools to design spaces through the lens of emotions.<\/p>\n

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About the author:<\/strong><\/p>\n

J. Cruz Garc\u00eda Albarado (Cruzgaali) holds a PhD in Landscape from the University of Sheffield, is a research professor at the Colegio de Postgraduados, and is a visual artist. His work brings together art, science, and nature, exploring the relationships between landscape, emotions, and well-being, as well as the design of naturalistic gardens and biodiversity conservation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

J. Cruz Garc\u00eda Albarado presents I didn\u2019t come to look, I came to listen to the Icelandic landscape, a personal account of his experience in Iceland from the perspective of landscape architecture and art therapy. Through different landscapes, he explores listening as a way of recognizing the rhythms of nature, the memory of places, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":29385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-land-escape-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t