Since May 2024, as part of ongoing engagement with the local community of Jåhkåmåhkke, Ignacio Acosta has revitalized the café and second-hand bookstore Myggholkens väntrum, opened by activist and retired nurse Elizabeth Johansson in 2011 with her late husband, Leif A. Öhman. The space, however, had been closed for five years before he began collaborating with Elizabeth to reopen and reclaim it as a project space.

Ignacio has reorganized the bookstore’s collection using queer and ecofeminist criteria, transforming the space into a hub for exhibitions and workshops in collaboration with the local community. Events organized in the space include: Window Painting for Forest and Human Diversity and Queer Network for the Ancient Forest.

Most recently, Myggholkens Väntrum hosted its first exhibition, featuring paintings by local artist Marietta Mamia under the theme Trees are our parents. Without them, we are nothing. They have given us everything.

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The Queer Sámi Language and Embroidery Workshop, organized in collaboration with Samernas Bibliotek during Jokkmokk Rainbow Week in August 2024 explored possibilities for gender inclusion in Sámi languages, focusing on existing non-binary and non-dualistic gender terms. Participants embroidered these words onto fabric pieces, forming part of a collective queer-language embroidery artwork, which will be donated to Samernas Bibliotek upon completion.

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Link to Myggholkens väntrum
Link to online catalogue
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