The Norwegian Drawing Center's project "Illustrators in Residence" (IIR) was organized for the first time in 2015, and aims to highlight the high quality and diversity that exists in Norwegian illustration art. By letting selected actors from the field make Tegnerforbundet's project room their own throughout June, the public will gain insight into various work processes and greater knowledge of the field.
Other "Illustrators in Residence" in June are Kjersti Johanne Barli and Sunniva Sunde Krogseth.
With their project "Growth - meditations over Norwegian forests" Kjersti Johanne Barli (1987) and Sunniva Sunde Krogseth (1987) will examine the phenomenon of growth, starting from how it suffers from the distribution of power between it and us.
Back when trolls and goblins ruled, we constructed an idea of the forest as a treacherous place, full of dangers. Today, the forest has become a victim of man's need for space. More agencies than ever monitor the use of forests, but there is more logging and hunting than ever. Primeval forest is disappearing, and entire populations of insect species with it, without politicians reacting. We enjoy nature with toxins under our skis, shoot the wolves so we can be left alone and gasp at the view of the cottage field on the other side of the pond – a view we have cut down twelve trees to enjoy. Along with economic growth, our negative impact on the ecosystem also grows.
Barli and Krogseth will challenge the drawing's two-dimensional starting point and investigate the possibilities inherent in the three-dimensional drawing. The project room will be filled with pieces of paper and colours. A forest will grow between the artists' hands, using materials from the forest. In this resurrected forest, you will encounter fiction and reality, utopia and dystopia.
Kjersti Johanne Barli has a master's degree in graphic design and illustration from the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts. Her clients include Norwegian Nonfiction Festival, Sugoi Books, Japan, Morgenbladet and Deichmanske bibliotek. She has received several grants and received awards such as two diplomas in Visuelt 2015 for visual identity for JUNGSTER and for the drawings Jakt , Gjemsel , Fangst. She was also nominated for the Young Illustrators Award 2014, Berlin.
Sunniva Sunde Krogseth has a Master of Fine Arts in Storytelling from Konstfack in Stockholm. She has contributed to the cartoon anthology "Byrjing", published by BLOKK Forlag, and to the anthology "Natursavn" by the eco-art group Mose. She has received several grants and awards such as diplomas in Visuelt 2017 for Plakat, Oslo Open, Visuelt 2016 for Plakat, Henie Onstad/Apothek and she was nominated as "Exhibitor of the Year", Juvenarte 2015 "Artistic Trajectories".
On Thursday, 28 July at 5 pm, there will be a "Tegnesnakk Spesial" (Drawing Talk) with the participants in "Illustrators in Residence". Read more here .
