I Am Queen Mary, Copenhagen (2026)

13/06/2025

Dear friends and supporters!
Meet our magnificent project managers Koffi & Højgaard 🌟🌟

Koffi & Højgaard () is a curatorial duo consisting of Pauline Koffi Vandet (b. 1994, DK/CI) and Ida Højgaard Thjømøe (b. 1991, DK/NO). They founded the duo in 2023 with the aim of experimenting with curatorial methods to create platforms for difficult, conflict-filled and vulnerable conversations. They have curated exhibitions at Oslo Kunstforening (2024), Nikolaj Kunsthal (2024), ODP3 (2025) and at BO (The Association of Visual Artists Oslo) (2026). In continuation of this, Koffi & Højgaard also work as art consultants for the public art program The Places We Meet - Art in Public Spaces (2025-2027) for Stavanger Municipality and as project managers and fundraisers for the monument I Am Queen Mary by Jeannette Ehlers and La Vaughn Belle.
We are extremely grateful for this collaboration and for Koffi & Højgaard’s efforts and dedication to this project.
🙏🏾💞🙏🏾

hoejgaard

02/04/2025

Dear friends and supporters of I Am Queen Mary,

We are thrilled to share an exciting update with you! The I Am Queen Mary project has received a generous pledge of 500,000 kroner from the Augustinus Foundation. This support marks another crucial step forward in our efforts to bring the sculpture to a permanent stage in both Denmark and St. Croix. We are deeply grateful to the Augustinus Foundation for recognizing the importance of this work and for investing in a more complete and honest representation of our shared histories.

This year marks 10 years since we first started working on this project. Reflecting on the past decade, we are reminded of the dedication it takes to bring a project of this scale to fruition. Over these ten years, we have worked diligently to secure funding, navigate logistical challenges, and advocate for the long-term future of I Am Queen Mary. With each milestone, we are reminded of the power of persistence and community.

We are also pleased to share that the AR version of I Am Queen Mary remains fully operational, allowing audiences in Copenhagen to engage with the work in a dynamic way. If you haven’t had a chance to experience it yet, we encourage you to do so.

This project is a testament to the fact that colonial history is not simply in the past, but continues to shape our present. The connections between Denmark, Greenland, the United States, and the U.S. Virgin Islands remain deeply relevant today. The 1916 Treaty, which transferred the Danish West Indies to the United States, not only altered the geopolitical landscape but also influenced subsequent interactions among these nations. This historical context enriches our understanding of current events, such as the recent discussions regarding U.S. interest in Greenland.

As we look ahead, we are grateful for your unwavering support, which has been crucial to the success of this journey. What began as a vision for a monument has grown into a global conversation about colonial history, resistance, and representation. We are honored to continue this work with you by our side.

With gratitude,
La Vaughn and Jeannette

01/04/2025

Dear friends and supporters of I Am Queen Mary,

We are thrilled to share an exciting update with you! The I Am Queen Mary project has received a generous pledge of 500,000 kroner from the Augustinus Foundation. This support marks another crucial step forward in our efforts to bring the sculpture to a permanent stage in both Denmark and St. Croix. We are deeply grateful to the Augustinus Foundation for recognizing the importance of this work and for investing in a more complete and honest representation of our shared histories.

This year marks 10 years since we first started working on this project. Reflecting on the past decade, we are reminded of the dedication it takes to bring a project of this scale to fruition. Over these ten years, we have worked diligently to secure funding, navigate logistical challenges, and advocate for the long-term future of I Am Queen Mary. With each milestone, we are reminded of the power of persistence and community.

We are also pleased to share that the AR version of I Am Queen Mary remains fully operational, allowing audiences in Copenhagen to engage with the work in a dynamic way. If you haven't had a chance to experience it yet, we encourage you to do so.

This project is a testament to the fact that colonial history is not simply in the past, but continues to shape our present. The connections between Denmark, Greenland, the United States, and the U.S. Virgin Islands remain deeply relevant today. The 1916 Treaty, which transferred the Danish West Indies to the United States, not only altered the geopolitical landscape but also influenced subsequent interactions among these nations. This historical context enriches our understanding of current events, such as the recent discussions regarding U.S. interest in Greenland.

As we look ahead, we are grateful for your unwavering support, which has been crucial to the success of this journey. What began as a vision for a monument has grown into a global conversation about colonial history, resistance, and representation. We are honored to continue this work with you by our side.

With gratitude,
La Vaughn and Jeannette

01/10/2024

Excited to share this major announcement on this October 1st.

Dear friends and supporters of I Am Queen Mary:

Today is Contract Day aka the FIREBURN, the day that hundreds of workers in the former Danish West Indies led the largest labor revolt in Danish colonial history. We draw great inspiration from their courage and determination as we continue the work of getting our sculpture to a permanent stage in both Denmark and St. Croix.

We know that it has been a long time since our last update. During this time we have been steadfast in applying to various foundations and creating the structures necessary to receive their support. We are happy to announce that we have just received a 1 million kroner pledge from the Beckett foundation. This marks a significant milestone in our fundraising efforts and we are grateful for their support.

We would also like to announce that the AR version of I Am Queen Mary is fully functional. We recently paid for an extension of the software license to keep it up and running and we encourage you to continue to see this version of the work in Copenhagen.

Next year will mark 10 years since we started working on this project. I don’t think either of us knew what we were getting ourselves into when we started thinking about a monument to commemorate our shared colonial histories. We are both in awe of how much this project has taken on a life of its own and feel honored to be stewards of the journey. Thank you for being there with us. Your encouragement and belief in us means the world.

Warmly,

La Vaughn and Jeannette

08/05/2024

Finally! 👑
We are happy to announce that the AR version of the figure in I Am Queen Mary is reactivated! So when passing by find your smart phone and scan the QR code, which is to be found in the window at The Royal Cast Collection. It’s super easy and we are grateful we can keep the vision alive while we are working on funding the permanent version.
Enjoy!!🤩

31/03/2024

Despite the challenges, we are pleased that the project is manifesting in smaller versions on each side of the Atlantic, where the life-size version of I Am Queen Mary, commissioned by the Ford Foundation in 2019, is on display in the Milstein Center, a prominently visible space on campus at Barnard College, New York, as well as the smaller prototype sample, which was exhibited at the ARoS museum for contemporary art in Denmark in 2021, acquired by DIS (a non-profit educational organization for studies abroad) is now on display in the institution’s atrium in Copenhagen.
We also want to announce that the AR component we introduced in early 2021, after the temporary figure was severely damaged in the 2020 winter storm, has been down for quite a while. We are working on reinstalling it and hopefully it will be active soon. All our activities are still completely artist driven, and therefore sometimes not handled with the speed we could wish for due to our other personal and professional commitments. We do hope for your understanding.
In conjuction with our advisory board we are working on a new plan for going forward. We will keep you posted when we have news.

Thanks for your engagement
La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers
📸
1.DIS, Copenhagen, Denmark (.copenhagen)
2. Milstein CenteR, Barnard College, NYC,US ( )
3. AR version of I Am Queen Mary, Copenhagen, Denmark

31/03/2024

Dear friends and supporters of I Am Queen Mary!

We hope this message finds you well. We are writing to give a long overdue update on our project and our vision for its future. Today marks the 6th anniversary that I Am Queen Mary was inaugurated on the harbour of Copenhagen. First, we would like to thank you again for your ongoing interest and support of I Am Queen Mary. Through each challenge we have faced, your encouragement has helped us to keep going.
Admittedly it has been a challenging few years as we have navigated the Danish foundations applying for funds to realize a version of the sculpture that includes a bronze figure. We have been encouraged by the support of vanguards in foundations such as the Beckett Foundation, which supported the first steps of this manifestation, as well as the Danish government who pledged 1,000,000 Danish kroner for the project in 2019. However, this pledge has been conditional upon the fact that we raise the rest. With the incredible support that we received in 2019 and since then, we thought this process would have been easy. It has not. Some foundations told us that because we were not an institution but two independent artists they could not support the project. So we created the association I Am Queen Mary to facilitate that, however we still encounter obstacles from these foundations.The challenge is real but we are not giving up on the project. The Danish minister of culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt, recently announced his urge to create an initiative for equalizing the gender representation of statues and monuments in the public space in Denmark.Hopefully this initiative will remind everyone about how I Am Queen Mary paved the way for this discussion, not only in Denmark but on a global scale. We are hopeful that this will create a new momentum for I Am Queen Mary and for it to find a way for the project to become permanent.

13/11/2023

November Artist talks:
African American Museum in Philadelphia, Barnard College and Danish Royal Academy of Architecture. In person and online. If in NYC and Philly come through!

26/10/2022

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨👉🏾We are so happy to announce that the institution who purchased the maquette of I Am@Queen Mary is DIS!

DIS is a non-profit organization providing academic programs in Copenhagen and Stockholm for students from nearly 200 North American colleges and universities. The curriculum is intellectually challenging, cutting-edge, and enriched by experiential learning components, including faculty-led study tours across Europe.

Malene Torp, Executive Director, DIS – Study Abroad in Scandinavia:

"I Am Queen Mary commemorates a particular chapter in Danish history which we can learn from even today, and it also symbolizes historical relations between the United States and Denmark. Emphasizing our work on diversity, equity, and inclusion, there was no doubt in my mind that we should support the artists’ campaign. The support benefits both the artists’ work to realize the permanent monument and our students through the visibility of the sculpture in our Student Hub every day."

Andreas Brøgger, Program Director, Humanities, DIS:

"I Am Queen Mary has been part of our curriculum at DIS since the monument's inauguration in 2018. Our faculty have taken hundreds of students from our U.S. partner universities and colleges to see this important work on-site, and the artists have generously made themselves available for these encounters. We hope La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers will soon be able to realize I Am Queen Mary in its permanent form, and, in the meantime, the maquette will be visible in our Student Hub to help foster reflection on history and its contemporary ramifications among our. students"
✨✨✨✨✨🙏🏾✨✨✨✨✨✨

25/10/2022

As a part of our crowdfunding campaign we offered a unique table-size version of I Am Queen Mary for sale. We are happy to announce who the institution was that purchased this work and supported our project in such a generous way 🙏🏾

The reveal will take place in Copenhagen on October 26, 2022 at 4pm CEST and will be announced here too!
Stay tuned🌟🎉🌟

18/06/2022

Posted • We have nuff statues, place names, and monuments in honour of colonisers in the Caribbean. Statues of Columbus still stand proudly on Caribbean soil.

Yet, despite this, there are people out here doing the work and ‘confronting the amnesia’ of colonialism in some of the whitest spaces, inextricably linked to the Slave Trade in Europe.

The Queens of the Fireburn were 4 Revolutionary women (Agnes, Mathilde, Susanna and Mary) from St.Croix who set ablaze 2/3 of the island in response to centuries of Danish brutality in the Caribbean.

and are the two black women behind the iconic I am Queen Mary statue - honouring the leading Queen Mary.

Of course many people in Denmark were unhappy with the statue, but she was the first statue to honour a black woman in Danish history.

continues to shake up things in Denmark with an incredible exhibition in the centre of Copenhagen.

You can find a piece of my writing in there, only a small element to a magnitude of greatness that is this exhibition.

Thank you for doing this work.

23/04/2022

A big toast and a
H✨A✨P✨P✨Y
B✨I✨R✨T✨H✨D✨A✨Y goes out to today 🥂🌸🥂
Wishing you a wonderful day and looking forward to our upcoming show Every Monument is a Citizen in Puerto Rico next week curated
By Vanessa Hernández Gracia. Please join us for the opening if in Puerto Rico ☀️🤩☀️

・・・

Every Monument is a Citizen
La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers

Todo monumento un ciudadanx is the title of the duo exhibition by artists La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers curated by Vanessa Hernández Gracia. The exhibition will open to the public on Friday, April 29, 2022, from 6:00-9:00 pm, at the art space :Pública, 1057 Avenida de la Constitución, San Juan, 00907.

The exhibition Every Monument is a Citizen is part of the activities surrounding the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study summit, entitled "Postcolonial Entanglements," that took place in Puerto Rico in April 2022. The exhibition includes works from the summit's keynote speakers, visual artists La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers. It is the first time that the artists show their artistic work in the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Belle and Ehlers come from contexts and realities that seem disparate at first glance. Still, with a closer look, it is possible to identify coincidences, both between them and around the context that shapes the Exhibition.

I Am Queen Mary

13/06/2025

02/04/2025

01/04/2025

01/10/2024

08/05/2024

31/03/2024

31/03/2024

13/11/2023

26/10/2022

25/10/2022

18/06/2022

23/04/2022

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