Self portrait, Svartdalsparken

 

Alone in nature, my imagination gets runs wild. I become an outsider – small and terrified. Afraid of noises, afraid of the dark and afraid of animals.

 

In Norwegian nature, the Musk ox is also a stranger in its own way, outside its natural habitat. It lived in Norway tens of thousands of years ago, but died out/became extinct. In modern times, it has been reintroduced and reinforces Norway’s mythical self-image.

 

It represents a romantic notion of something eternal, something unaffected by our zeitgeist. The musk is endangered and has great difficulty adapting to the environment in which it lives. The animal´s persistence presents a contrast to our restless contemporary culture.