FYLGJA /// ICELAND

ICELAND – WONDERLAND

I am so very grateful to have experienced Icelandic midsummer night dreams made manifest during my artist residency there with the SíM residency in Reykjavik. Exploring the otherworldly nature with Jess expressing the land through her body, Lucy Hazard filming and Mr Sakitumi lending sound to the emotions… unforgettable

thank you

Fylgja= Old Norse for “Follower” (female singular)

A woman fylgja is a female supernatural entity who acts as a guardian spirit for the clan, and especially for the chief of the clan. They were also attached to individuals, but were immortal and appear to have been attached to particular lineages following a person from each generation. Mundal believes that they represent the spirits of ancestral mothers, a part of the ancestral mother worship we know existed among the Vikings.

Fylgjur – guardian spirits and ancestral mothers
The Fylgja-Motifs in Norse Literature