NOR[TH]MAN
Normandy and Scandinavia share a historical heritage: the vikings. Despite limited archaeological discoveries from the Viking Age and a lack of written records about and by the vikings from 793–1066 CE, a subtle connection between Normandy and Scandinavia draws traces into the present.
NOR[TH]MAN delves into this subtle connection as it is expressed in (groups of) people from Scandinavia and Normandy, who, in various ways, interpret their (national) identity through a shared viking heritage. Whereas some create a sense of identity by closely studying and recreating tangible archaeological discoveries, others revive the intangible religious aspects associated with the viking society. Still others build an identity around the belligerent characteristic of (the typical depiction) of viking culture, or around genetic testing proving possible viking ancestry.
Common to all, however, is that they incorporate the same myths of the past into their sense of self in the present. They (re)construct the notion of ’viking’ as a shared ’ethnicity’ (rather than a job description) that brings people together across the Atlantic. However, while fostering a sense of community among ’modern vikings’, this ’ethnicity’ has also historically been – and partly still is – associated with neo-fascist discourses, which makes it the object of continued political-ideological debates.
This anthropological exploration of the ’modern viking’ is complemented by a poetic (re)interpretation of the viking narrative: elements from sagas and chronicles, around which this figure is built, are visually (re)interpreted.
The project has been developed with the help of experts from Université de Caen Normandie and Museé de Normandie, and is the result of the residency program Tremplin Jeunes Talents and was exhibited in France, November 2024 – January 2025.
