Connecting design, culture, and mission

The stamp features a raven with its wings extended, set against a backdrop that includes Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Denmark, collectively known as the Kingdom of Denmark. Both Greenland and the Faroe Islands are autonomous regions within the Kingdom, with their own government.

Greenland shares its heritage with the Inuit culture, which includes Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. The Faroe Islands have a shared heritage with the Nordic countries and has the Faeroese name for the Faroe Islands, “Føroyar”, appearing bottom left of the stamp while the International Space Station, where Andreas will spend six months, features on the opposite corner.

Released together with the stamp is also a stamp sheet, with cultural depictions tying together the Nordic and Inuit heritage. On the left is the Greenlandic Akvkos, a shaman in Inuit culture, with the raven spirit Qaartukuk, and on the right the Norse god Odin with the raven Huginn returning after a day scouting the world to gather information.

“As I was researching Greenland’s cultural heritage, I came across the poem ‘Qaartuluk’, meaning ’Song of the Raven Spirit’. The song tells the story of a shaman with a raven companion that searched the unknown for knowledge for its shaman master. It was perfect to connect the two cultures, Huginn from Nordic, and Qaartuluk from Inuit,” said Anker.

To accompany the stamp release, a Huginn folder is available, with the front page showing the artist’s impression of a raven with the Earth and the Moon behind it and images from Andreas’s training inside the folder.