Myggholken (Mosquito Nest)

Myggholken [Mosquito Nest]— is an antiquarian bookshop and meeting place that opened in 2011 by Elizabeth Johansson (1955–) and her late husband—the activist, poet and photographer Leif Öhman (1951–2022). The bookshop became an important meeting place for the grassroots organisation Gruvfritt Jokkmokk [Mine-Free Jåhkåmåhkke] between 2013–2019 yet subsequently remained closed to the public for several years due to illness.
In 2017, during the research process of Litte ja Goabddá (2018), I conducted an interview at Myggholkens väntrum with Elizabeth Johansson, Leif Öhman and Sámi Yoiker Lars Guttorm Blind (1945–2019). They narrated the anxiety the mining project posed to the local and Sámi community.
In May 2024, Acosta met Elizabeth for a coffee to understand how the Gállok fight for self-determination connects to land-based struggles stemming from Sweden’s forestry model. That same day, he started cleaning and re-organising the bookshop as a volunteer The Myggoholken has transformed his practive both as methodological framework .
Myggholken connects the history of resistance against Gállok with the current fight to protect the last remaining boreal forests. Together with Elizabeth, we shifted the strong political focus of the collection towards a lighter and more inclusive book display. This began by removing all books that “other”, such as colonial and ethnographic books. Instead, priority has been given to local, Sámi and ecological perspectives.
Myggholken welcomes visitors, including groups and delegations from both Sámi and non-Sámi communities, and we have organized art exhibitions focused on old-growth forests, such as Trees Are Our Parents (2024) by artist Marietta Mamia, and Vuovdek: We Live Among Trees (2025) by Nina Nordvall Vahlberg Myggholken is an inclusive space for knowledge exchange and storytelling around a cup of free coffee. We participate in Regnbågsveckan Jokkmokk [Jokkmokk Rainbow Week], a local LGBTQ+ Pride festival and cultural event held in Jokkmokk since 2024.
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