Jói Kjartans is a photographer from Reykjavik, Iceland who has been based in Oslo, Norway since 2011. He has a B.A. in Graphic Design from Iceland Academy of the Arts and studied Photography at Bilder Nordic in Oslo.
His work has been shown at Skog Art Space, Fotogalleriet and Fotografiens Hus in Norway, and at Gerðarsafn and The Reykjavík Museum of Photography in Iceland.
He has also shown work at the Oslo Negativ Photo Festival, The Iceland Photo Festival, The Nordic Light Photo Festival, Landskrona Festival in Sweden and The New York Photo Festival.
He has been commissions by magazines such as The Observer, Dazed&Confused, VICE Magazine, Men’s Health, Bloomberg Business News and Zeit Magazin. He has self-published two photobooks and has been nominated to a number of awards and received various stipends in Norway and Iceland.
He was chosen to participate in The Norwegian Journal of Photography #7 which was published in March 2026 with his long term photo project inspired by Huldufólk or The Hidden People and the myths and folklore in Iceland.
He is working on a photobook with this project that will be published by Heavy Books in January 2027 with support from Iceland Art Fund, NoFoFo and Fritt Ord.
Viewpoint, his latest group exhibition opened at the Reykjavik Arts Festival in June 2026.
His next upcoming solo show will be at Foto Tallinn in Estonia in September 2026. His work was chosen by an international jury, from a record number of applications.









