Iceland

In May 2016, I fulfilled a long-time personal goal of visiting Iceland. I’m not sure where this dream came from. But I do know I was fascinated by the landscape as well as the genetic make up of the population. The idea that contemporary Icelanders can be traced back to a small gene pool of native populations in Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia. This small founding population, and the isolation of Iceland means that genetically they are homogeneous in comparison to other European countries, in comparison to my lineage. And that fascinates me.

So on a shoestring budget, I took myself off on a ‘go-see’ for 8 days to Iceland. Starting in the capital Reykjavik, where I stayed for a couple of days, I hired a car and toured the whole island via Ring Road 1.

It was a phenomenal trip not only in terms of what I saw, but more so in how I felt. What a transformation I went through during this road trip listening to Beyoncé’s #Lemonade. Fierce, awesome and mesmerizing.

I’m still processing the trip. Since 2016, I have visited Iceland 5 different times. This portfolio reflects these different journeys and discoveries.