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Føroyskur Ungdómur - Faroese Youth(s)  -  Series extracts

 

The Faroe Islands, geographically remote in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean between Iceland, Norway and Scotland, are the cradle of a population which through its youth is in full mutation. Cornered between a bipolarity very present within this archipelago of barely fifty thousand inhabitants between religious/non-religious but also conservative/liberal mentalities in their extremes. The young generation and some older precursors are just beginning to find their place, in fact "new" mentalities and ideas are appearing and evolving on, for example, a way of consuming based on respect for the environment and the living, but also in respect for others through a more assumed gay and transgender community with growing acceptance of others.

The portrait of this youth with complex shades that I tried to explain and image, stands out with the daily life and my feelings that I shared during this long period with many people from various backgrounds. It all started three years ago with a first stay then an installation for a year and a half in order to fully experience this change from the inside. To illustrate this permanent change, during the course of this project, important laws were passed in the Faroese parliament allowing better recognition of everyone through non-discrimination, including one that caused a stir in Faroese society and its different customs. on the recognition of the legal parenthood of two mothers over their child.

 

Nuances are to be brought in this very complex small territory of eighteen islands at the same time very connected, open and influenced by our Western thought, is to specify that these mentalities have evolved more quickly within the capital Tórshavn and its cities. neighbors than anywhere else on the various islands. This difference is explained by the even more present geographical retreat of many villages and islands and the evolution of paths of thought ( s ) evolves more slowly and differently from one place to another. We can add to this the fact that the Faroese are more attached to their village than to their nation with a culture, a Christian belief and very strong roots of identity, all complemented by a very intense relationship with the family. Consequently, external ideas find it difficult to be heard and integrated and these "ideals" are very often rejected. By this fact, Tórshavn, economic and cultural heart of the archipelago is the precursor which tends to influence the rest of the population to a certain extent.

Images and texts subject to rights: ©Lucas Frayssinet

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