Reflex - Nordnorsk Kunstnersenter
My friends were my contribution to the group exhibition Reflex
Exhibitors: Tomas Colbengtson, Grethe Irene Einarsen, Camilla Figenschou, Hanne Grieg Hermansen, Dan Lestander, Trygve Luktvasslimo, Camille Norment, Ina Otzko, Sonja Siltala and Bjørn Tore Stavang.
“Reflex” is produced in collaboration between the North Norwegian Artists Centre and the Sami Centre for Contemporary Art.
A common theme in the exhibition is mirroring and reflection. It is said that a mirror cannot lie. At the same time, there is something magical about how it shows an exact, but at the same time completely opposite representation of reality.
The North has traditionally attracted artists because of its distinctive light. “Reflex” continues this tradition, but at the same time turns it on its head; because here it is rarely about a sublime light connected to natural landscapes. The magnificent, naturally given light often has to give way to other types of light; everything from very concrete light sources such as neon, to reflections in materials that cause the light to be thrown back onto the surroundings in the gallery space, or reflections that occasionally obscure what we thought was the central motif.
Identity is a central theme in the exhibition, whether it concerns how we shape our own identity in social media (Grethe Irene Einarsen), about Sami cultural identity (Tomas Colbengtson), or about a more fleeting and flexible identity as in Trygve Luktvasslimo. The latter project can be seen in light of perhaps the most famous of all stories about mirrors, namely the myth of Narcissus; the youth who fell in love with his own reflection and took his own death from it. Similar issues arise in Camille Norment's Driftglass, a kind of anti-mirror, where the person standing directly in front of it is unable to see a clear reflection of themselves. A flaw in the logic of the mirror can also be seen in Bjørn Tore Stavang's illusionistic paintings. Hanne Grieg Hermansen, in turn, transfers photographic effects as unintentional reflections to the medium of drawing.
People’s encounters with their surroundings also emerge as a theme in the exhibition. The northern landscape is shown in all its splendor in Camilla Figenschou’s short film, but instead of a romanticized idyll, we see unexpected and occasionally unpleasant interactions. Dan Lestander also allows humans to enter into surprising dialogue with nature in his videos. In Sonja Siltala’s photographs, figures imitate the Finnmark landscape in a playful way, while Ina Otzko allows mirrors in an interior to reflect her own body in a photographic series that also plays with texts by Hanne Bremness. “Reflex” can be seen as an exploration of identity on several levels, both in the artist, the viewer and in the geography in which we find ourselves.
Curators: Jan Erik Lundström and Torill Østby Haaland
