Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.05.2016, Page 40

Culture Purple40The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 5 — 2016
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If there are two subjects Linda
Björk Eiríksdóttir is passionate
about, they’re knitting and Prince
(not necessarily in that order). It
stands to reason that when news
of Prince’s passing broke, Linda
decided to display her admiration
through the medium of crochet.
“He meant a lot to me, so it was
my way of doing something to re-
member him by,” Linda explained.
Linda has been partaking in
the art of yarn graffiti, which en-
tails placing yarn pieces in public
spaces, for five years. The piece,
which can be seen sewn to a lamp-
post on Bankastræti, was created
over the course of three days. “It is
also a bit risky to put it up in such
a public place, because off course
I want it to stay there for as long
as possible. But that’s the chance
you take with yarn graffiti, and all
graffiti,” Linda said. “You are just
speaking to the public and leaving
it in their hands.”
And we have reason to believe
that even in death the superstar
is, in the word’s of Linda, “play-
ing with the cosmos.” You see,
Linda received an email follow-
ing the original Grapevine article
about her Prince yarn graffiti trib-
ute. It was from Pat Hjelmberg, a
resident of Minneapolis, Prince’s
hometown, who just happened to
be traveling to Reykjavík the follow-
ing week. Pat saw Linda’s article and
thought, “this is serendipitous.”
Pat had collected all the local
press surrounding Prince’s death,
with the hopes of passing it on to a
Prince enthusiast and, boy, did she
find one. In Iceland. Pat, her friend
Donna, and Linda convened at
Reykjavík Roasters with the trans-
atlantic newspapers sprawled
across the table. “I can’t wait to
get in bed, shut my door, and say,
‘No one bother me!” Linda laughed
while looking through the stack.
“I’m going to make a twin yarn
graffiti like the one that I made
[here], give it to them, and they’re
going to put it up” at Paisley Park,
Prince’s residence, Linda said.
“We have yarn stormers in Min-
neapolis,” Donna added. “I’ve been
watching this winter, and think-
ing: ‘Why do those Stop signs have
sweaters on?’”
Throughout the meeting, many
Prince anecdotes were told, to
Linda’s immense pleasure. “I have
a friend who went to school with
his sister. Does that count?” asked
Donna. Pat’s friend was a young
bank manager working in Min-
neapolis when a record producer
and newly discovered artist walked
through the doors to the bank. “The
producer said, ‘We need to open a
bank account for this young man
because he doesn’t know how to
manage his money,’” recounted Pat.
“And they gave him a demo CD.”
Although not Linda-level Prince
fans, Pat and Donna delighted in
discussing the artist and the cir-
cumstances that brought the three
together. “And you won’t believe
the other coincidence,” Donna
said. It turned out that Linda’s
youngest daughter and Pat share
the same birthday, while Linda’s
eldest daughter and Donna share
a birthday. So there it is: an align-
ment of the stars, and that “play-
ing with the cosmos” Linda was
talking about.
SHARE: gpv.is/prince1
Remembering
Prince
Spinning the yarn
By KELLEY REES Photos by ART BICNICK