Quiet Lives in Villages Overlooking the SeaHitchhiking in the remote Faroe Islands, Kevin Faingnaert discovers a world attuned to the rhythm of the waves.
By Sarah Stacke
When a stranger starts hitchhiking around the Faroe Islands, word gets around fast. A cluster of 18 islands in the North Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and Norway, the roughly 540 square mile archipelago is home to about 50,000 people. Called Føroyar in Faroese language, the self-governed country is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
n the winter of 2016, Belgian photographer Kevin Faingnaert was led to the secluded islands, which have been inhabited since the 8th century. Eager to work on a project outside Belgium, he got out the map and for the first time, noticed the Faroe Islands. Two days later he was on a plane to the rugged, snow-covered country to see what he could find.
Hitchhiking, says Faingnaert, was easy on the islands. He rarely had to stick his thumb out for more than 10 seconds. Some people picked him up because they had already heard of the Belgian guy hitching rides and taking pictures. Others stopped because of the anomaly he represented: an unknown face in a country that rarely sees tourists outside Torshavn, the capital city. Reportedly, there is a sum of three traffic lights on the Faroe Islands and they’re all in Torshavn.
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