Protective Pack

Inspired by local folklore, this mural draws from the legend of Holger Danske — the sleeping Viking knight said to lie in wait until the people of Denmark need him most. According to the myth, he will rise from his tomb, defying death itself, to defend the nation. In this work, he is accompanied by ghostlike Viking warriors who emerge as protective presences, suspended between memory and myth.

Dividing the composition, a radiating mesh of wolves moves across the wall, shifting from prowling forms into a collective howl. Wolves have long been woven into Denmark’s cultural and natural history, yet for nearly two centuries, they were almost entirely absent. Their recent reappearance in northern Denmark signals a slow rewilding of the landscape.

By intertwining myth with contemporary ecological reality, Protective Pack explores themes of resurgence, guardianship, and the fraught tensions within environmental preservation and cultural identity.

Acrylic and aerosol paint on brick

2016

Photo Credit: Artist & Orsolya Albert