No man is an island: life on the Faroes in pictures | Art and design

 Posted on September 2, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  809 words  |  Martina Birk

No man is an island: life on the Faroes – in pictures

Andrea Gjestvang spent six years depicting the traditional males who roam these remote volcanic isles – while the female population declines

@mlestone Main image: ‘The vastness of land, sky and sea’ … young men take an evening swim in the cold waters in Sydrugota. Photograph: Andrea Gjestvang

Thu 27 Apr 2023 02.00 EDT

  • View of the small town Vidareidi, the northern most settlement on the island of Viðoy

    The Faroe Isles, a territory of Denmark, are located 320km north-west of Scotland, and about halfway between Norway and Iceland. The landscape is as breathtaking as it is harsh. Atlantic Cowboy by Andrea Gjestvang is published by GOST. The project will be exhibited at Les Boutographies festival, Montpelier, France from 6–28 May. All photographs: Andrea Gjestvang

  • Young men take an evening swim in the cold waters in Sydrugota

    The photographs in the book depict the vastness of the land, sky and seascape against which human presence in dwarfed. They show the domestic interiors and family units, birds being processed and sheep being slaughtered, social celebrations, fishing, hot tubs and hours of physical graft

  • Birds perch on cracks in the cliffs on the island of Mykines

    Fishing is the main industry of the territory and although it has modernised in many ways, it is still an industry bound by tradition and mainly run by men

  • A young boy on the ferry between the capital Tórshavn and the southernmost island of Suðuroy

    While the men go to sea, the young women are drawn abroad for study or training in Copenhagen or other European cities. More than half of those who leave never return and as a result the population of 54,000 has a gender deficit of around 2,000 women — the deficit is 10% among women of reproductive age

  • Interior from a carpentry workshop in the capital Tórshavn

    Gjestvang was intrigued by how the demographic trend had challenged and changed both Faroese society and the men who chose to stay — this became the backbone of her project. She was curious about the lives of unmarried men in small communities where the impact was most pronounced

  • Rogni and Odin in a hot tub at midnight in Mykines

    Mykines is the westernmost island in the Faroes. The island has between five and 10 permanent inhabitants, but is invaded each summer by tourists eager to experience its unique birdlife

  • Hjalmar, his shirt stained with blood during sheep slaughtering in Kaldbaksbotnur

    Atlantic Cowboy provides an insight into how traditional male roles and identity are being challenged by modern society

  • Farm slaughterhouse in Kaldbaksbotnur

    Strong young men bring in the sheep and haul them on to the slaughter table. The experienced older men clean the carcasses. Little boys carry off the sheep’s heads. ‘You need a system. The kids have to be involved, that’s the way it is in all areas of life,’ says one of the older men. ‘The little boy learns from his father and grandfather. Because he’ll be taking over the farm someday’

  • A saw hangs at a farm slaughterhouse in Kaldbaksbotnur

    Women have their own tasks, such as processing the meat, skin and wool and making food for the workers

  • Hans Jacob in a shack in the north harbor in Hvannasund

    Fulmar hunting is popular among young men in the Faroes. Hans spends an evening preparing fulmar birds he has caught with friends, removing their feathers, burning their bodies and then hanging them to dry

  • The entrails of slaughtered sheep lie in a pile outside the slaughterhouse on a farm in Kaldbaksbotnur

    The details in the book reveal the harshness of life in the territory alongside steadfast endurance, companionship and community

  • Aadne and Jóannes together in their childhood home in Klaksvík

    These twin brothers, aged 52, are both unmarried. ‘I prayed to God that I would find a wife’, says Jóannes. ‘Maybe he didn’t hear me.’

  • Andrias outside his home, which he shares with his mother in Vidareidi

    As a young man, Andrias went to Denmark to study to become a teacher, because his mother forbade him to go fishing. But after a few years he came home and bought his own boat

  • The village of Mykines on Mykines island

    Mykines is connected to the mainland by ferry or helicopter - if the weather allows it
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