British Museum Lectures: Nordic Noir

We are delighted to welcome Jennifer Ramkalawon to the bookshop to discuss Nordic Noir, a new book that showcases the British Museum’s remarkable collection of graphic art from the post-war period to the present day from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Nordic Noir accompanies a major exhibition at The British Museum in October 2025.

The overwhelmingly spectacular landscape of the region features prominently in many of the featured works – dark fjords, uninhabited mountain ranges and heavily forested areas contrast with densely crowded, highly developed urban spaces viewed through the Nordic lens. The Indigenous Sami people living in the northern part of Scandinavia and Russia address issues such as their own heritage and identity within the Nordic world. Regional identity is also explored from pride in the artists’ own native countries to coded references to their ‘Viking’ past. The book also features works by contemporary Nordic artists who are constantly challenging the idea of the ‘perfect’ Scandinavian social world often projected by these countries to outsiders.

Beautifully presented, this stunning new book celebrates artwork from some of the leading artists from the Nordic countries.

Jennifer Ramkalawon is Curator of Modern and Contemporary Nordic Graphic Art at the British Museum. Previous publications include Maggi Hambling: Touch (2016), Kitaj Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné (2013), Love and Marriage (2008) and Toulouse-Lautrec (2007).