Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.07.2016, Qupperneq 50

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Art Women50The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 11 — 2016
Húsavík has made its mark on the
tourist map, thanks to being the
whale watching capital of Iceland.
While colourful houses and mu-
seums add to the town’s charm,
Danish artist Julie Laenkholm is
hoping to bring something extra
this summer: poetry. While art-
ist in residence at LungA School
last fall, Julie reconnected with
her family roots in Húsavík and
found herself drawn to the his-
tory and culture surrounding this
unique town in the north of Ice-
land. She will be holding an exhi-
bition this August, where she will
use Húsavík itself to create po-
etry and beauty—showing how art
can create the circumstances for
something previously unknown to
appear.

Why is the town of Húsavík so
special for you?
My father’s side of the family
comes from Húsavík so it was al-
ways a place that we heard stories
about. When we visited for the
first time in 2004, our parents
brought us to the Húsavík Muse-
um and in the basement there was
a family tree. And on this fam-
ily tree were both of my parents’
names. It was a really exceptional
experience for me, and I think
it was the first time I felt what it
means to stem from somewhere.
My great-grandparents had six
children and moved to Denmark
in 1912, during Iceland’s indepen-
dence movement. When my great-
grandparents arrived in Denmark
they built a house and named it
“Húsavík.”

Can you tell us a bit about your
upcoming exhibition?
I guess it’s very much the “little
drama in the bigger drama” I am
interested in. It’s going to be about
what it means to stem from some-
where from a postcolonial per-
spective.
I have had the privilege to meet
with Kristín Loftsdottir, who is a
professor in postcolonial studies.
Her work revolves around gender
and feminism. I studied her arti-
cles on postcolonialism and what I
found so interesting was how both
the stories from my family and the
historical archives in the Húsavík
Museum are told from a gendered
point of view, biased towards the
experience and achievements of
males.
With the support of the museum I
wanted to use the exhibition as an
opportunity to write in the story
of the women in my family and the
women of the town, which so far
have received limited exposure.

Can you tell us about the weekly
performance nights you are hosting
in the lead-up to your exhibition
opening?
There is not a huge attendance for
cultural stuff in Húsavík so I’ve
found it easier to invite groups
that I discovered existed through
my historical research.
The first performance night was
with the Kvenfelag, which is the
women’s association. Snorri the
archivist, who has been a great
help for me, had helped me trans-
late their two first notebooks and
it was so inspiring to hear what
these women had done for the
town. They made schools, and do-
nated their milk to women who
could not breastfeed, they built
an orphanage and tried to make it
a law not to drink and swear and
smoke. I invited them to come
over and eight people came, which
is a success here! We had the most
beautiful night. They taught us
how to fold the traditional flower
that they make every year and we
folded it out of a chain of letters
from my grandmother and her
sister. The letters about the ev-
eryday life of women weren’t re-
ally deemed important enough to
be archival material I guess, so I
wanted to use this as an opportu-
nity to write them into the archive.
I have had the local choir, the kids
of the town and the theatre group
involved in other nights.

What is next for you after the
exhibition?
I’ll keep coming back here. It’s
like once you have been here it be-
comes a part of you and you have
the urge to go back. Iceland is like
a wild, living woman.

Julie’s solo exhibition opens at the
Husavik Museum on August 8.
Rewriting The
History Of Húsavík
How an artist is ensuring the women of
Húsavík won’t be forgotten
Words MELISSA COCI Photos VICTORIA SENDRA