We end the week in Reykjavik, Iceland. The city has a hip, underground scene. And artists tend to dabble in photography, music, or maybe even street art. One multi-talented local artist has captured the graffiti with her camera. The World's Jori Lewis recently caught up with her.

For six years Thordis Claessen, has been photographing graffiti in and around Reykjavik.

In alleyways, on the sides of houses, and even on the back of the national library, there are masses of scribbled names, black stencilled silhouettes accented by flashes of color, and wall-sized graffiti murals.

CLAESSEN: "The main thing of how Icelanders do graffiti differently is that they mix the whole thing together somehow. There are artists out in the world who specialize in stencil graffiti or specialize in murals or this and that. But somehow the Icelandic way is that just everybody does everything. You might have learned that, yeah?"

Claessen says a lot of the graffiti gets buffed away in downtown Reykjavik, near the posh Laugavegur Street with its fashionable shops and multiple cafes. But some pieces survive.

CLAESSEN: "Let me see here....."

Claessen slips behind a pub and heads to a dark corner.

CLAESSEN:"right there"

She points to a piece of paper pasted onto a wall. It's a drawing of a troll-elf with a bird on its back.

CLAESSEN: "That represents a character that is somehow a mixture of the stories that are a rich part of our culture which talk about the elves and trolls and ghosts and stuff like that. And that comes from the wintertime when we have four hours of sunlight a day. And many centuries ago really believed, truly believed in their hearts that there were a lot of weird supernatural character."

Now, that character graces the cover of her book. It's one of many typically Icelandic figures that crop up in local graffiti.

Claessen herself is not a graffiti artist but has been into graffiti ever since she was a break-dancing, skateboarding teenager.

CLAESSEN: "I've just always been kind of interested in this sort of art form that flashes itself on the street. It just pops out and it's just there and it's kind of raw somehow."

Now in her early thirties, Claessen falls into the category of multitalented Icelander. She's a graphic artist and co-owns a store on trendy Laugavegur St. that sells t-shirts she designs. Most of the shirts feature another Icelandic icon - in this case, a quirky, stylized sheep. After all, there are nearly half a million sheep on the island....and only 300,000 people.

CLAESSEN: "Sometimes we are called the sheep store, yeah!"

Claessen's also in a couple of bands. One just put out an album that's pretty different from the ethereal ballads and lively dance anthems of Icelandic pop stars like Bjork or Sigur Ros.

That's Claessen there on the drums. All those extra sounds are her too, playing on drinking glasses, bowls and empty beer cans. The band is called Stormur I Adsigi, which means the coming storm. It's half celtic folk and half punk rock. During gigs the lead singer jumps around on stage wearing a kilt and a top hat.

This song is about a man who has a drinking problem. When he's sober, life is good. He whistles and thinks happy thoughts. But when he drinks, things get a little darker.

All of their songs are about people struggling against their inner demons, and deciding whether or not to chase their dreams.

Claessen says being in such a band is inspiration for her other work. Whether that's designing little sarcastic sheep or snapping photos of wild-style graffiti.