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mary waltersmary walters

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Home > Blog > Back from the Faroes

Back from the Faroes

Published: 2nd July 2016

I went from Iceland to Torshavn in the Faroe Islands via Seydisfjordur  on the Smyril Line’s “Norunna” (of “Trapped” fame).

Faroes

Sailing to the Faroes

Faroes

Sedisfjordur seemed to be alive with artists  and art stuff – and also the sun was shining, the mountains were high, and people were very friendly to the point of going in the opposite direction of travel in order to give me a lift as I was hitching the last leg of the journey.

Faroes

Faroes

There is a current open call for the Skaftfell residency – and I think I might apply for it, as I think it would suit me very well! (fingers crossed)

Faroes

And so I left Iceland and headed south….After a couple of nights in what must be the friendliest and cleanest youth hostel on the planet,and after 13 hours at sea, I arrived in Torshavn in full mist at 5am.

Faroes

Faroes

Completely befuddled and NO sense of where ANYTHING actually was….after a night on my phone following the dreadful referendum on EU membership for the UK. A very confused and troubled morning with no place to BE until the accommodation was available at 1pm. And the final awful result to deal with. 🙁 It proved to be totally unsettling as an experience – not only arriving somewhere new with no sense of direction and no visible clues, but also feeling robbed of identity and belonging…..very scary indeed. no points of reference. wonder if this could show up in some artwork to be made in the next weeks?

When I look at the images of the places that I have chosen to remember by photographs, there is a strong sense of lack of horizon from layers of cloud cover, and the ever present mists of water droplets giving me a feeling of a melting landscape, dissolving into space and with no apparent finality……compounded by the sudden looming of the lack of a framework of national identity with the awful result of the referendum. Nothing stays the same – everything changes – there is no stability……

Faroes

Faroes

Faroes

Faroes

We wandered around Torshavn with its pretty turfed roofs and jumper shops…

Faroes

Faroes

Faroes

and found our first port of call (the wine shop), followed by 2 lovely art galleries and inside the works of Marius Olsen (Faroese printmaker),

work by Marius Olsen

and Anker Mortensen (painter), amongst others.

work by Anker Mortensen

I also admired the works of Jona Rasmussen for their simplicity of line and embossing on paper.

work by Jona Rasmussen

The Faroese landscape is both gentle and dramatic at the same time – a lovely walk across Streymoy from Kirkjubour to Troshavn, passing the strangely shaped islands of Hestur and Koltur

Faroes

– followed by a boat trip round the cliffs and caves of Vestmannasund.

Faroes boat trip

Faroes boat trip

Faroes boat trip

Faroes boat trip

These cliffs were even more dramatic in the evening light of the ferry ride back to iceland. It is as if the islands are being sliced up by the force of the waters…slicing them up like cheese…

Faroes

Faroes

Faroes

Faroes

We also had a lovely day  out in Nolsoy,

Faroes

the small island opposite Torshavn, accompanied by several dozens of small kindergarten children on a day out for their end of term. Lovely little glimpses of life on the island,

Faroes

Faroes

Faroes

Faroes

Faroes

and a visit to the local taxidermist – interesting but oh.so.smelly.

Faroes

Back to the residency at Skagastrond,

Faroes

thanks to a lift from the car-pooling website, and it almost felt like going home, although the June contingent is now decimated with several of our new friends having left already. But there are new people to the mix – let’s see how that pans out.

Hannah has left me some very distressed fabric – I wonder if I could work with it and stretch my vocabulary – it might fit with the general theme of challenging my comfort zone! …more later as it develops – or not.

Filed Under: Blog, Skagastrond 2016

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