Elin glærum haugland

During three weeks in Autumn 2019, I went on a journey in the north of Norway to create a painting. The paint was to be made using minerals I found on the journey.

The painting has its title from the beach Mjelle. I heard about the beach while listening to my grandfather's favorite song, Mjelle. He passed away several years ago, so it was my aunt who showed me the song. When I Googled the name of the beach, I saw that it has red sand, and it felt like my grandfather had sent me a sign after his death. Because of this, I wanted to visit Mjelle.

The journey lasted for three weeks. From Mjelle, I drove by car to Kautokeino, Karasjok, Alta, Vesterålen, Lofoten and back to Mjelle. I gathered mineralpigments along the roads I drove on and in the places I stayed.

Back in Mjelle, I did the last part of the painting process, using the sand from the beach.

The painting Mjelle, along with pigment samples, has been shown at ‘Tuning in curated by Ingvild Langgård’ at Black Box Teater in Oslo and at Trøndelagsutstillingen 2020 in Trondheim and Namsos.

This project was supported by Vederlagsfondet, NBK

Digital photograph, 2018

Featured in the book Our Entangled Future, 2019.

Jeg møtte dere i skogen.

Mørkeredd, men jeg elsker trærne, lyngen, steinene, fossen. Overlever natten for å puste inn dagen.

In June 2019 I spent a week in Nordmarka forest in Oslo sleeping in a hammock, gathering color pigments and painting with them.

Gathering Mana / Whispers from Volcanic Earth

Painted in Easter Island in 2018-19 using Ki’ea, local sacred mineral colors.

Two canvases painted on both sides, measuring about 1,5 x 2,5 meters each.

From fieldwork in Easter Island 2017 and 2019

The first five images:

Heirangi Edwards teaching me how to make black pigment from dried sugar cane leaves. Next we tested the colors of different plants from the garden. The rest of the images show some of my work with local mineral colors.

Works on paper, A3 and A4 formats

2018

Mineral pigments and charcoal from norwegian forests and mountains and from the Brazilian Amazon, acrylic medium.

From a series of more than 60 works.

Some exhibited at Group Hug#1, Low Standards, Oslo, 2018

Unge Bærumskunstnere, 2018

Displayed on the table were Postcard Paintings from my journeys to the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon jungle and Easter Island.

The video work ‘and their faces will be painted’ was screened on the wall next to the paintings:

Pigment painting #22: Røtter og sykluser (Amazonas, Peru, 2017) (91 x 118 cm)

Pigment painting #25: I jungelen oppløses jeg (Amazonas, Peru, 2017) (143 x 151 cm)

2015 & 2017

2017

Pigment painting #12: ”We are very high, high functioning beings...”

2017

59 cm x 70,5 cm

Pigments: blueberries, green moss and soil from Norway.

Materials: acrylic medium and gesso, second-hand cotton, yarn, string, stick.

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Pigment Painting #13: The Secret life of the Painting

2017

61 cm x 73 cm

Pigments: Norwegian blueberries, crushed brown & pale brown mud rocks from the Peruvian Amazon, land pigment from the hill in Colla Micheri (Italy) where Thor Heyerdahl was buried, the sacred red ochre of the maori in New Zealand.

Materials: Second-hand cotton fabric & acrylic gesso, found string, acrylic medium, found wooden stick

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Pigment painting #11: Reprogramming Process

2016

69 cm x 66 cm

Pigments: Norwegian blueberry, the sacred red ochre of the maori in New Zealand, norwegian land pigments, beetroot.

Materials: Second-hand cotton fabric & acrylic gesso, yarn from a friend, string, acrylic medium, found wooden stick

Music video made for Kari Harneshaug, 2015-16

duration: 11:45 min

2014

Filmed in Trondheim and Cornwall.