Reykjavík Grapevine - jún. 2023, Blaðsíða 12

The Reykjavík Grapevine 6 / 23 12Feature
WORDS Elías Þórsson
IMAGES Kazuma Takigawa
The past 30 years have brought
about the biggest demographic shift
in Iceland since disgruntled Norwe-
gian pagans settled here more than
1000 years ago. In the decade lead-
ing up to 2022, the percentage of
Iceland’s population composed of
first and second generation immi-
grants doubled from 8% to 16.3%.
Look back to 2002 and that number
was just 4.2%.
Iceland’s evolving visage has be-
come increasingly obvious in recent
years as a new generation of artists
with mixed racial descent step into
the spotlight, showcasing the ex-
panding diversity of the nation. We
sat down with four artists of mixed
heritage to discuss the Icelandic
identity and the impact of multicul-
turalism and race on art and society.
PERFORMANCE IDENTITY
Born in 1993 to a Thai mother and
an Icelandic father, María Thelma
Smára dóttir has been at the fore-
front of the emergence of young,
multi racial actors beginning to
make waves in Iceland’s culture
sector. And she’s setting the bar
high, having already appeared in
several Icelandic TV series as well
as co-starring in the 2018 movie
Arctic alongside Danish actor Mads
Mikkelsen.
“When my mom landed in Keflavík
everything was covered in snow
– something she’d never seen be-
fore – and she felt it was magical
and thought ‘this is where I belong,’”
María relates.
Earlier this year María appeared as
Snæfríður Íslandssól in the theatri-
cal adaptation of Nobel laureate
Halldór Laxness’ novel Iceland's
Bell. The performance was a collab-
oration between the National The-
atre of Iceland and Elefant, a group
of young Icelandic actors of mixed
racial descent.
Iceland’s Bell is, in many ways,
the quintessential Icelandic novel.
It starts out with the story of Jón
Hreggviðsson, a rather unfortunate,
often drunk, poor farmer who is
punished with lashings and sent to
prison in Copenhagen for stealing
a piece of string. The novel was
released in three parts, with the first
published in 1943, a year before the
country gained independence, and
the third in 1946. It both explores
and mocks what it means to be
Icelandic and the relationship the
country had with its Danish rulers.
“In high school I read Iceland’s Bell
at a point where I was considering
becoming an actress,” says María.
“I connected so much with the char-
acter of Snæfríður Íslandssól, but
I didn’t think it was possible for me,
being of mixed race, to portray her
in Iceland. There were no mixed
race actresses, so I really doubted
if it was possible.”
The character of Snæfríður Íslands-
sól can be seen as an idealised
image of Icelanders – she believes
in justice and self determination, but
she is controlled by the more pow-
erful men in her life. She is also a
romanticised personification of the
perfect beauty, with her figure being
described as “elfish” and her being
referred to as “the light woman.”
It is hard to disregard the symbolism
of a multiracial artist depicting a
character as Icelandic as Snæfríður
Íslandssól. In the 40s, Laxness
sought to explore what it was to be
an independent Icelandic nation;
now the Elefant staging of his work
holds a mirror to 21st century Ice-
land, forcing us as a nation to con-
sider who we are.
“The feedback I received was just
positive,” María says matter of factly.
“I don’t know if there were people
who didn’t like it – possibly there
were – but I try not to focus on com-
ments like that,” she says. “The
de mands of audiences have also
changed in recent years and they
want more diversity on stage, which
is great.”
María believes artists can occupy
a unique place in the conversation
about race and Iceland simply by
continuing in their creative endeav-
ours and making themselves more
visible. The more the general public
sees the cultural output of Icelanders
of mixed racial descent, the more
they will shift their focus to the quality
of the work and away from the race
of the creator.
“I think society is going through a
kind of growth spurt,” María sug-
gests. “When people see something
they are not used to they get almost
an error message in their heads and
can’t process what they are seeing.
But after they’ve seen something
often enough they get used to it and
stop thinking about it.”
A FATHER’S HERITAGE
“We didn’t want to take the activist
approach to art – we wanted to put
the issue of what it means to be
Icelandic into the hands of the audi-
ence, to make them face that ques-
tion,” explains actor and musician
Davíð Þór Katrínarson, an Elefant
member who starred alongside
María in Iceland’s Bell. He was born
in Norway in 1993 to an Icelandic
mother and a Gambian father, but
moved to Iceland when he was six-
years old.
“My father has never really been a
part of my life and I lost touch with
him pretty early on,” Davíð explains.
“But in recent years I felt a need to
get in touch with him again, espe-
cially because I just became a father
myself.”
Without contact with his extended
family in Africa, Davíð says he didn’t
Feature The Identity of Us
Meet four people changing the face of Icelandic arts and culture
When people see something
they are not used to they get
almost an error message in
their heads and can’t process
what they are seeing. But after
they’ve seen something often
enough they get used to it and
stop thinking about it.