Mette Tronvoll – FORTID/NÅTID

The photographs are the result of encounters that have been given time to unfold. Large-scale portraits and direct eye contact create a powerful sense of closeness between the person portrayed and you, the viewer.

About the exhibition

Mette Tronvoll – PAST/PRESENT traces the development of Tronvoll’s artistic practice, from her early studio portraits in New York to photographs of people and landscapes from different parts of the world. Meet couples from her own circle, Inuit communities in Greenland, nomads in Mongolia, people harvesting seaweed in Japan, and people living in the windswept landscape of Svalbard.

Foto: Mette Tronvoll

The exhibition also presents works from Hidra, an island at the mouth of the Lista Fjord. During several stays on the island, Tronvoll has photographed its landscapes, buildings and people. The images tell the story of a place in transition, and of the relationship between nature, history and human activity. They portray life on Hidra today while preserving traces of a way of life that is gradually disappearing.

The relationship between people and their surroundings runs throughout the exhibition. Large-scale portraits and direct eye contact create a powerful encounter between the person portrayed and us as viewers. We are invited not simply to look, but to pause and be fully present.

The exhibition also includes Tronvoll’s portrait of HM Queen Sonja, photographed at Verdens Ende on Tjøme. The Queen is pictured near her country home at Mågerø, in surroundings that give the portrait a private and intimate character.

Foto: Mette Tronvoll

About Mette Tronvoll

Mette Tronvoll (b. 1965) is one of Norway’s leading photographic artists. She studied at Parsons School of Design in New York and works primarily with portraits and landscapes, often in photographic series.

Tronvoll works slowly and with analogue photography, using natural light and a handheld camera. Careful preparation and close contact with the people she photographs are central to her process. 

Her work is represented in a number of Norwegian and international art collections, including the National Museum in Oslo, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Royal Danish Library’s National Collection of Photography in Copenhagen, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She has presented solo exhibitions and taken part in group exhibitions in numerous countries.

Foto: Mette Tronvoll

Experience Mette Tronvoll – PAST/PRESENT at Lillehammer Art Museum and discover a photographic practice centred on the encounter between people, places and the viewer.