A Gentle Agreement

Public Art. 2021. The Icelandic government prevented Black soldiers from serving at the U.S. Navy air station in Keflavík, just outside Reykjavík. Although I heard about this practice, concrete evidence was elusive due to its establishment through a gentleman's agreement. This project has two components. The first is a booklet featuring documents scanned from the U.S. National Archives in Maryland, including a 1963 declassified memo from President Kennedy demanding information on why Icelandic officials prohibited Black U.S. soldiers. These documents are contextualized by an interview with Icelandic anthropologist Kristín Loftsdóttir on patriarchy, nationalism, and whiteness. The second component involves reimagining a gentleman's agreement. In collaboration with the 2024 Hamraborg Festival, we developed a gentle agreement to produce a workshop for teenagers to discuss race through DIY bookmaking over the next year.