‘Love Letter to Litla Kongó’
is a design project exploring the intersection between Icelandic and African diasporic cultures. The project serves as a re-evaluation of Nordic history, celebrating the diverse, beautiful communities in Iceland.
is a design project exploring the intersection between Icelandic and African diasporic cultures. The project serves as a re-evaluation of Nordic history, celebrating the diverse, beautiful communities in Iceland.
Despite Iceland’s reputation as a homogeneous nation, it indeed has a history of Icelanders with African heritage, traced back to the slave Hans Jónatan, who fled from Denmark to eastern Iceland in 1802.
Hans’ story was never documented during his lifetime, and his legacy was reduced to folklore.
Djúpivogur, where he found refuge, was later mockingly referred to as “Little Congo”.
Presented is a collection of objects from contemporary Nordic societies, reimagined through the diasporic lens:
a chair, a cloak, a durag, and a comb.
The project comes accompanied with a lot of research, texts and different references. Here is a deeper analysis of the project. Scroll underneath, or download.
This collection of objects was made for Logi’s bachelor project from the Iceland University of the Arts, under the tutelage of Rúna Thors.