Finn Christian Peper takes us on journey from Tokyo to Lissboa.

Photos by Finn Christian Peper.

AA: What is your relationship to Anholt?

OHK: When I was a child, my mother took my sisters and me to Anholt. We got to experience life at Fyrgården. At first you had sand in your shoes. You try to fight back, not let the sand get in, but after a few days sand was everywhere. Afterwards, I always thought of it as a special place.

AA: Why shoot analog?

OHK: With film, you need to be focused. You can’t be careless, it always shows in the result. When you load a camera with film, you need to do it in total darkness. If you let the slightest light hit the negative, it can be completely destroyed, so you use a small portable darkroom, a tent. When you have taken the film out of its packaging and loaded a magazine into the tent, you take it out and thread it through the camera’s gears. This process is also very delicate, you mustn’t be in a hurry. And ideally you should not get any foreign objects into the interior of the camera, such as dust or sand. Then when you have loaded the camera, you have to measure the light and set the camera accordingly. So when you’ve loaded the magazine in the dark, loaded the camera, set up the lights, got your actors ready, well then you only have a few minutes to get it right because film is not only difficult to work with, it’s also very expensive! So why do I work in film? Because when you develop and see the result, you forget all that which was difficult. The colors that the film gives you make you fall in love.

AA: How long have you worked with film?

OHK: 15 years I believe!

AA: What was your first job?

OHK: I worked as a director for Avicii and filmed his tour videos.

AA: What has the process been like with the creation of the films for Grethe?

OHK: I wanted to visualize the emotions Alf felt when he created his perfumes and together we searched for them at Fyrgården for two weeks in July 2022.

AA: What was the biggest challenge?

OHK: Choosing what was best to film and distributing the amount of film.

AA: Are there any advantages to filming in a place like Fyrgården?

OHK: From a technical point of view, there are no advantages at all. Old film cameras cannot withstand saltwater sand. I had to send the camera in for service after I got home.

AA: If you had to pick one clip from the movies (incl. material that didn’t make it into the final cut), which was your favorite scene?

OHK: As the jeep approaches the lighthouse. It’s like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel <3

We had a really beautiful summer this year. Family, friends and lot’s of new faces visiting our flagship store, and pop-up restaurant fælles at the old light house at Anholt.

This interview was made with Susanne Jepsen, one of the founders, and driving forces behind the culture festival Langt ude (Far out) at Anholt.

AA: What is Langt ude (Far Out)?
SH: My son Anton said it was an alternative to french fries and chicken wings. We wanted to try to make something over here that had a better artistic quality than what had been made before.
Langt ude is a concert in a dune or an organ concert up on a mountain. A cultural festival that breaks the usual framework.

AA: Who are you?
SH: My name is Susanne Jepsen and I am 64 years old.

AA: Who is behind the project?
SH: The cultural association of 1995 which started in the Assembly House, consisted of Lotte Brinkman, Hans Graversen, Sigurd Djurhuus, Gyritte Anderssen, and me. But the project is also supported by many others.

AA: How long have you lived in Anholt?
SH: I moved to Anholt in May 1987, when I was 32.
It was a year after I had met Jesper on New Year’s Eve over here.
That time I worked with drug addicts in Århus and on Christmas Eve I made Christmas Eve with ducks, red cabbage, browned potatoes, and risalamang for drug addicts. It was always very creepy, but after Christmas, everyone always came and said it was so nice that I had held Christmas Eve, that was also why I did it. After it was all over my friend Carsten asked if I would like to come to Anholt because he had rented a house. After I had met Jesper, I took annual leave and moved here. Jesper was a fisherman and I became the best man on the boat. We fished together but I quickly became pregnant and quit fishing.

AA: What have you been doing at Anholt since?
SH: At the time you could only get maternity leave for one year at a reduced rate, there was high unemployment and good conditions for the unemployed, so I chose to do that.
In 1995, I sought some money together with Lotte Brinkmand to start the cultural association that creates Langt Ude today. We also sought money for social and cultural work and in connection with that, we did a lot of things in the Assembly Hall. Among other things, I started some gymnastics and eating for the elderly so that they could get out of the house and meet. It started with 7 people coming and has developed into regular pensioner dining at Anholt. I consider it to be one of my greatest pedagogical victories. Subsequently, I helped to start Anholt’s Children and in 2000 I and Elisabeth Momme created “Anholter 2000” in collaboration with VUC, which was about people having to learn to use the internet and computer. We were given an appointment to hold these courses, and the aim was to investigate “what would you like to do at Anholt”, “how can we develop Anholt”, “how can we think ahead” and “how can we improve our possibilities to make some things over here” with the help of the computer.
At one point I was also a domestic helper. I was really happy about that. That’s how I got to meet all the old Anholters.
We have also done many courses. We made photography courses with an exhibition of old and new pictures. At one point we borrowed photos from the photo-historical museum in Herning about the construction of Anholt harbor.

In general, you shouldn’t just wait for life to start over on the other side, our children should feel “well, we’ll do this”. If you want to dance hip-hop, we got someone to do just that, and if you want something else, we got someone to do just that, and it’s been really good.
I think I can see the result of this in my children. At one point I spoke to the principal of one of the high schools where some of the children had started and where many became presidents of the student council. I told him that “they were used to nothing happening if you didn’t take the initiative yourself”.
I’m sure there are many things I forgot, I also worked at the tourist office.

AA: How long have you been langt ude (far out)?
SH: Always. When I decided to move over here, my brother said “you’ve just signed out of society” but I felt I had signed in. But I guess that’s how you can look at things differently.
I am happy that I am getting so far out here that I do not doubt that I am just allowed to spin around on this earth. Being here makes me spiritual.
AA: What does langt ude (far out) mean to Anholt?
SH: This year I got a really good response from people who didn’t say it before and it shows that it is worth something on a larger scale for Anholt.
We also extend the season over here by not being in the middle of the high season. I only do what I miss and that’s actually what I’ve been doing all along.

AA: If you were to show a stranger somewhere in Anholt, where would it be?
SH: I love standing up on the shooting range and looking out over the whole island, the cliffs, and the sea. At Anholt, there is never any doubt that the earth is round.

Photography: Ömer Sami.

This weekend we hosted an event in collaboration with fælles, Psyche Organic at Autopoul in Copenhagen.

On Thursday, June 2 we hosted an after-work event at Another Aspect, in Copenhagen. Celebrating our collaboration and them representing us in their beautiful store.

On friday May 20 we hosted a launch event at inter.pblc, in Copenhagen. A chance to curate a space, dedicated to our story and our fragrances.

The sculpture was made to be an abstraction of waves.

Thank you all for showing up!

Photography: Siri Hammarén.

Johanna Dumet is a french artist living in Berlin. Each year she travels to Fyrgården to eat jomfruhummer and paint.

G, Who are you?
J, I am a French country side girl and artist based in Berlin.

G, What made you start painting?
J, I can’t remember! I was five years old when I announced to my parents that I decided to be a painter. I guess I found really early my way of communication and my place of freedom. When I paint, nobody can tell me what to do.

G, Do you have a favorite space at fyrgården?
J, The bench by the Verenda in the morning, the first yard to paint in the afternoon and the bathroom on the northside in the evening, it has this divine light. I also spend a big amount of time in the kitchen, when I don’t paint I cook.

G, Is there a specific light that you find extra fascinating?
J, The evening golden light is everything!

G, Do you have a special memory from Fyrgården?
J, I guess the first time I got there. I had no idea where I was going, this was 6 years ago in fall. The way to get there is also really unique, you have to drive on the shore and follow the light house, and then there it is, standing in the middle of nowhere. This is one of my favorite moment, first day of arriving and seeing the house, knowing that the long journey was worth it.

G, What makes you come back to Fyrgården, and Anholt?
J, The light, the freedom, the peace, the sea and of course the house by itself, it feels safe to be there.

Paintings: Johanna Dumet
Photography: Johanna Dumet & Manuel Wroblewski.
Portrait of Johanna by Alf.
Text: GRETHE