Seth Globepainter’s mural “Puffin” brings a child and a seabird face to face in Kollafjørður, in the Faroe Islands. The child wears a puffin mask; the puffin wears a human one. Between them, the child offers a small fish. Their exchanged disguises give the encounter its gentle strangeness, while the bird and the catch place it firmly in the islands.
The child’s Faroese dress adds another local detail to an image built around a simple gesture. In his account of the visit, Seth describes wanting to represent a culture he found both demanding and rich, drawing on red caps, puffins and fishing. He also recalls painting between rain showers, after being welcomed by the Staksberg family. The weather and hospitality belong to the circumstances of this particular wall, not just its backdrop.
Seth has long made children central to his murals. Their faces are often concealed, a device that takes on a playful new form here: the child and bird each borrow the other’s appearance. Rather than placing a figure against a generic island landscape, he uses clothing, wildlife and an offered fish to make the meeting specific to the Faroes.
The mural was made with an opportunity from We Need Art, the Faroese mural project. Its organiser, Hergeir Staksberg, later named Seth among the artists who contributed to the project. Seth thanked Staksberg and Turið Teitsdóttir for hosting him during his stay. “Puffin” is on Í Líðini in Kollafjørður, where its two figures remain poised in the middle of their exchange.
Images via @seth_globepainter on Instagram.