Based on footage of the artist’s father filmed at the very end of his life, when he was severely affected by Alzheimer’s, the exhibition reflects on how this type of documentation can influence memory and the processing of memories. The film is a thoughtful essay in text and images, with both lyrical, uncomfortable, and humorous elements.
The main work in Torgeir Husevaag’s exhibition is the montage film About Forgetting (Om å glemme). It is based on a documentary made by a film student in 2003 about the relationship between his parents, at a time when his father was in the final stages of dementia. When Husevaag first saw the documentary, he reacted negatively and avoided it for a long time. Later, he began to process his father’s illness artistically and felt the need to watch it again. Revisiting it was thought-provoking. About Forgetting came out of this: a cinematic essay about memory, and about the need to both remember and forget, and about the need to both expose something and cover it up. The film also addresses the use of subjects who cannot consent, changed family relationships, and the boundaries between dependence and love. About forgetting mixes still images and live film, drawing, photography, and animation with a personal narrative. A series of pen drawings that are part of the film’s visual flow are also shown.
With support from Ingrid Lindbäck Langaards Stiftelse. .
Torgeir Husevaag
Torgeir Husevaag was born in Oslo and graduated from Winchester School of Art, England, and KHiO, Oslo. For 25 years, he has worked exploratively and systematically with drawing and text-based projects – often in a visual language closely related to maps and infographics. Over time, photo-based pen drawings that are part of larger narratives have gained more prominence. The style was first developed for artist books but has for the last 5-6 years been the main element in a kind of montage film, of which About Forgetting is the latest. In these, the artist’s work takes a more personal and biographical turn.
Free admission.
