(About)
Bølle Girl
Artist Statement:
Motherhood is an alchemical process, an ancient continuous cycle that is constantly changing and shifting, presenting us with new opportunities to define our own path and future societies.
After going through the initiation of becoming a mother myself, I started noticing how motherhood is overlooked, undervalued and misinterpreted in the fabric of today's society. It was after seeing an image of the Paleolithic goddess the "Venus of Willendorf" that I felt this jolt of power, a kind of remembrance. Her grounded bulbous, unapologetic body taking up space, the importance of her being a mother so evident.
With my simple and modern line drawings of this rounded, ancient mother shape and my colorful and symbolic backgrounds, my hope is to invoke a sense of empowerment for the mother, to uplift the mother through my work - to see that this is her transformation that has a ripple effect far into the future.
*I would also like to state when I say "mother", I refer to the energy and the role that the mother archetypally takes on, which is care work - caring for the young, the old and the vulnerable alike. This is no more a gender fixed role in this day and age but it is still work that is undervalued and my art is a love letter to all who take this on.
Background:
Helena is a Norwegian who was born into a nomadic life which started in Spain and has taken her to eight countries and 11 cities. In the UK, she did her art foundation at The Surrey Institute of Art and Design and her BA at the Kent Institute of Art and Design, both institutes now known as University for the Creative Arts. Helena has worked in Albania for the photography department at UNICEF, worked in several galleries in London including Proud Galleries and Somerset House, worked in production at Pinewood Studios and is a trained silversmith. She has also always kept up her own personal art practice of drawing, painting and metalwork. After 5 years in Tokyo, Japan, Helena has circled back to part of her roots and is currently living in Oslo, Norway.
Motherhood is an alchemical process, an ancient continuous cycle that is constantly changing and shifting, presenting us with new opportunities to define our own path and future societies.
After going through the initiation of becoming a mother myself, I started noticing how motherhood is overlooked, undervalued and misinterpreted in the fabric of today's society. It was after seeing an image of the Paleolithic goddess the "Venus of Willendorf" that I felt this jolt of power, a kind of remembrance. Her grounded bulbous, unapologetic body taking up space, the importance of her being a mother so evident.
With my simple and modern line drawings of this rounded, ancient mother shape and my colorful and symbolic backgrounds, my hope is to invoke a sense of empowerment for the mother, to uplift the mother through my work - to see that this is her transformation that has a ripple effect far into the future.
*I would also like to state when I say "mother", I refer to the energy and the role that the mother archetypally takes on, which is care work - caring for the young, the old and the vulnerable alike. This is no more a gender fixed role in this day and age but it is still work that is undervalued and my art is a love letter to all who take this on.
Background:
Helena is a Norwegian who was born into a nomadic life which started in Spain and has taken her to eight countries and 11 cities. In the UK, she did her art foundation at The Surrey Institute of Art and Design and her BA at the Kent Institute of Art and Design, both institutes now known as University for the Creative Arts. Helena has worked in Albania for the photography department at UNICEF, worked in several galleries in London including Proud Galleries and Somerset House, worked in production at Pinewood Studios and is a trained silversmith. She has also always kept up her own personal art practice of drawing, painting and metalwork. After 5 years in Tokyo, Japan, Helena has circled back to part of her roots and is currently living in Oslo, Norway.