Hanne Grete Einarsen

Hanne Grete Einarsen works within graphic art, drawing, painting, and installation and is particularly interested in woodcuts. Einarsen is known as the “Princess of Snefjord”, a village in Finnmark in Northern Norway with a vibrant South Sami culture. A few years ago, Einarsen suffered from a serious illness, and though she recovered, the process has left wounds that create obstacles in everyday life. Today, she uses these experiences in her art. In the Self-portrait series, the bodily elements come strongly to the fore in a group of silhouettes of herself. In and around the outline of her body, there are abstract expressions of these bodily experiences, such as circles, spikes, texts, organs, and so forth. 
 
Einarsen says that she will “tell stories that reflect my everyday life with a disability”, adding that the project “describes several moments in the life of an individual […] as well as rehab and realization” and that the various pictures “express […] loss, hope, love, hate, jealousy, anger, and frustration”. Consisting of over 40 self-portraits, the series can be regarded as the diary of an artist. RG