In the days before Reykjavík’s municipal water utility was established in 1909, water-carriers were among the humblest members of the town’s social hierarchy. Both men and women were water-carriers – though rather more women. And while the water-carriers’ job was one of the least respected and worst paid in Reykjavík, it is believed to have been the only work in which men and women had equal pay.
Location: Ásmundur Sveinsson Sculpture Museum on Sigtún in Reykjavík
Ásmundur sculpted his Water Carrier to honour the memory of the water-carriers.
