We have come so far from what we once were.  Humanity’s beginnings were so simple, but it seems we have become incredibly distanced from so many of the practices and traditions that were once essential.  Perhaps that is why native inhabitants of foreign lands hold such fascination.  San Francisco artist Lisa Congdon’s series Boreas explores the people, traditions and landscapes of Nordic countries, but she embraces them in a way that is modern yet still celebrates the ancient.

Her portraits are solemnly and reverently rendered in graphite and traditional patterns are mimicked in ultra-bright pops of color and graphic punch.

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These feel as if they are a part of a time-capsule, created now, to be opened in one hundred years.. capturing people caught between two worlds, one ancient, one moving faster and faster away from all that they have known.

To see more of Lisa Congdon’s work, please visit her website.  If you’re near Portland, OR, you can catch her in a joint show at Land Gallery with Trish Grantham until March 3, 2012.

Featured image is Fjall, paper and vintage ephemera in shadowbox, 11x14x2.5.  All images are via the artist’s website.