family

Magnus Salvarsson sits with a puffin net.

Meet Magnus

Magnus Salvarsson is a fifth generation islander here on Vigur in Iceland. It’s a tiny place, 2kms long by 400m wide, but it’s teeming with life from sheep to eiders to (more recently) tourists. Magnus loves to be here and help with the family businesses – which include sheep, eiders, and tourists – but he…

A smiling family.

The best medicine

The north has shown me so many different ways to family – enough that yes, I just made family a verb. What you see here is a portrait of love, certainly, but also of support, acceptance, and diversity. Within this circle, a unique vision of family is practiced. Children have many role models to turn…

A father walks home with his daughter in Pond Inlet.

So long, sunshine

Happy Father’s Day to Iceland and Norway! Two Arctic countries celebrate their dads today, and we are joining in with our appreciation for father figures of all kinds. During spring in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Carey Elverum walks his daughter Naya home from school. As you can see, it’s getting warm enough to walk without mittens….

Haukur Orri poses in his costume at the Siglufjordur Herring Museum.

Meet Haukur

Post 1 of 2. Meet Haukur Orri. He’s 16, and he plays a mean accordion even though he only started a year ago. In this photo he’s dressed up for his summer job at the Siglufjordur Herring Museum in northern Iceland. In a historical re-enactment of the herring days he dances and sings with the…

Haukur Orri poses in front of a shelf filled with skis.

Post 2 of 2. Haukur loves his town. “I’m not leaving,” he says, “When I got to Reykjavik I’m like a lunatic when I come home.” It’s too busy for him in Iceland’s big city. Many small towns here have to contend with young people leaving for an urban life, just like many countries around…

Valgeir - a part-time resident of Flatey Island.

Post 2 of 2 Valgeir’s grandparents lived here on Flatey in Iceland. The family still owns the house but it’s now shared between 11 groups of descendants. So Valgeir can come every 11 weeks, and today he’s got a propeller to fix. In June, the extended family comes together and heads off to the small…

Olga and her family during snack time

(Post 2 of 5) It’s not quite supper time in Olga’s kitchen, but it’s time for cake. When Eric and I arrive, she pulls out three different homemade desserts, plus cheese, butter and hot cocoa. All six of Olga’s children are home for the sheep round up, along with some of her grandchildren. The lamb…

Relaxing after dinner in the Minni-Mástanga farmhouse living room

(Post 5 of 5) After a dinner of lamb, potatoes, cabbage and the most delicious gravy, the family at Minni-Mástunga crashes out. Mom is the decorator around here. She loves fabric and has made over 300 quilts – as well as helping with the farm, raising six kids and caring for foster children as well….

Makka's memory wall displays a variety of artifacts

(Post 3 of 6) Tuku’s mother, Makka, didn’t want her picture taken, but she let me take photos of her story wall, which holds memories that span her entire life. Behold: – the feet from Makka’s brother’s first ptarmigan kill, – a puzzle called “the visitors” which I never did solve, – a narwhal necklace…

Tuku takes a picture of herself dressed in traditional clothing

(Post 6 of 6) The evening culminated here. By now it is after 10 pm and we have pulled out all of the family’s traditional clothing. Axel’s polar bear pants and kamiit, Tuku’s first fox fur jacket, and now this. Tuku wears a sealskin amaut made for her mother by a woman in Qaanaaq when…