Curated by Hege Oulie and Christine Hansen, ‘Av Natur’ / ‘From Nature’ investigates the ongoing nature- and climate crisis through camera based art.

We produced two new works to go into Preus’ permanent collection, and our first collaborator Ragnhild took us to her local woods which are under threat from development. Her portrait goes with a callout for anyone with mushroom enthusiasm to map the fungi of this biodiverse patch of forest in Eikestrandskogen. (Email hege.oulie@preusmuseum.no if you are the one for the funga job!) Ragnhild’s wish was to feature her project instead of her, so we would like to thank this load of birch polypores for taking the centre stage in her picture. The portrait was shot in November 2022. 

Arne Johan is a philosopher who has been writing about eco anxiety and ecological mourning for two decades. We transcribed 13 pages of solid chit chat from the first meeting in November and headed to the snowy Vestskogen (yesterday), where he used to go for his nature fix and where he has two hawk acquaintances. Exposed film rolls from this day are still in the camera bag, stay tuned for more on this expedition. 

We’ll make a stage appearance at the all day seminar that is happening right before the opening tomorrow, where we will talk about some newbie images and share details of our next week’s collaboration at a UNESCO biosphere reserve in North Karelia, Finland. 

‘Av Natur’ is open at the Preus Museum 16.2 – 31.12.2023

Fellow artists: Terje Abusdal, Åsne Eldøy, Azar Alsharif, Carll Goodpasture, Christine Hansen, Gjert Rognli, Kirsti van Hoegee, Line Anda Dalmar, Line Bøhmer Løkken, Morten Torgersrud, Siggen Stinessen, Skade Henriksen, Ulla Schildt, Verena Winkelmann, Willibald Storn.