Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2021, Blaðsíða 20

Together For
Seyðisfjörður
Artists lend a hand in rebuilding the village
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photos: Lama-sea Dear
The devastating landslides that
struck Seyðisfjörður in December
are still wreaking havoc in their
own way. While no one was killed
or injured, 14 homes in the east
Iceland village were destroyed
and, while many residents were
allowed to return soon after the
entire village was evacuated,
many are still without a place to
live. Even for those who have been
allowed to return, there are still
extensive repairs
to be done and
the clean-up is
daunting.
Fort unately,
not everyone is
sitting idly by. A
new initiative,
“ S a m a n f y r i r
S e y ð i s f j ö r ð ”
(“Together for Seyðisfjörður”) has
been launched, a collaborative ef-
fort started by Lama-sea Dear, who
lived in Seyðisfjörður for a year
and has worked there periodically
over the past five years.
Something must be
done
"I'd recently moved to Copenhagen
and was sitting on my computer
refreshing the news and speak-
ing to friends on the phone,” she
recalls of the wake of the land-
slides. “I felt so far away and like
there wasn't anything I could do
to help, so I came up with the idea
for this project so that we could
raise awareness for the town and
do something. If I were there, I'd
pick up a shovel and start digging,
make someone a cup of tea, or at
least hug my friends. This was my
way of doing that."
She contacted a couple of peo-
ple, including Sí-
mon of the Heima
Art Residency and
together they have
been running the
projec t toget her
along with the as-
sistance of others.
"We've created
a platform for Face-
book and Instagram and are in
the process of setting up a website
[which will be up and have con-
tent after the 25th] where we will
be able to host videos and art that
have been donated by the Icelan-
dic creative scene," she explains.
"In the spirit of Seyðisfjörður, it's a
hodge-podge of wonderful creativ-
ity, with professionally recorded
sessions from big name Icelandic
musicians, but also, creative little
videos that artists sort of whipped
together on their iPhone just to
find a way to support."
A positive response
"People have been really positive,
it's been wonderful, you know,”
she says. “The main point of us
doing this is we are supporting
the community of Seyðisfjörður,
so we have been in communication
with people who are in the town,
because we wanted to make sure
that they were ready for it, that it
was something they were willing
to accept and something that they
wanted. We didn't want to be step-
ping on any toes and publicising
something that is such a person-
al thing that all these people are
dealing with."
The team has been working in
collaboration with the Icelandic
Red Cross, where they set up a spe-
cific fund. All of the money will be
used by the Red Cross, in collabo-
ration with the town. They have
also been in collaboration with the
town, who will assemble a team
to best allocate the funds for re-
building the community.
“Even from people not directly
affected by the crisis, they have so
much love for the town” she says in
closing. “It's just amazing, the ef-
fect this small community in this
tiny fjord has on so many people
across the world, that they just
come together and want to help
it."
You can follow Saman fyrir Seyð-
isfjörð on Instagram at @saman_
f yrir_ _seydisf jord and on Face-
book, with a website pending. You
can also go to gefa.raudikrossinn.
is/9544 to donate to the fund.
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"In the spirit of
Seyðisfjörður, it's
a hodge-podge
of wonderful
creativity.”