OFKS at Copenhagen Photo Festival

Glowing silence

Oslo fotokunstskole presents the exhibition “Glowing silence» that shows a selection of current students work. The title of the exhibition try to embrace an overall general impression of their work as well as taking inspiration from the artwork of our student Marte Bjerkmo, where the glowing, washed out and overexposed image of two people, expresses a silent melancholic absence. The word glowing is associated with light and as such also with the essence of photography. Light in photography can be a creative force as well as a destructive one; through rays of light images are created in the camera, and at the same time an analogue image in the darkroom exposed to light, by accident, can be destroyed.

The work we have chosen for the exhibition represent different classes and levels and they also represent various photographic styles and expressions. However, many of them share the notion of being open for interpretation. Although some have narrative elements, they don’t try to convey a message speaking very loudly, they rather ask us quietly to reflect on what we see.

Oslo Fotokunstskole is a school of art in Oslo that focus on photography and film, providing students with a platform for higher art education. The school has around hundred students, with teachers working as professional artists in photography and film. The students work will be presented in the containers at Copenhagen Photofestival, mainly as photos at the walls, and is curated by the teachers and the head of Oslo Fotokunstskole.

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Marte Bjerkmo about her work:

I have taken a picture of two people that is overexposed, almost glowing. I wanted to depict their existence or non-existence while removing what could identify them, as well as their gender and orientation. Without the details that you normally see in a portrait, you have little information trying to understand who they are. At the same time, it will be difficult to make prejudices against the people in the photo, prejudices that normally would arise for many. Gender is irrelevant in the picture, but you will automatically still try to solve the “riddle” of what these people were born as, whether you think about it or not.

The idea for the project was influenced by the tragic AIDS epidemic in the 20th century that killed so many queer people. The glowing expression of the figures gives us a sense of something mysterious. For me, there is an uncertainty there as to whether these figures are dead, or whether they do not exist. In a way, I have tried to portray a life that never was lived

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Artists: Goncalo Carvalho · Rene-Charles Gustavsen · Marte Bjerkmo · Simen Bjerkeli · Paulina Zieba

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Opening hours Everyday 11AM – 8PM

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