–Who are you?⁠

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Espen Gleditsch⁠

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–What do you do?⁠

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I am a photographic artist who often works with the role history and narratives play in shaping our contemporary life.⁠

The photographic series in the show at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter relates to the complex role that colour plays within in the narrative of western sculpture, specifically Antique sculpture and later appropriations of the style.⁠

Historical narratives are pliable constructions in need of constant re-evaluation in order to stay relevant. This mesmerizing flexibility is also what makes narratives susceptible to unintentional shifts of meaning and vulnerable towards human desires and ideology. In my work I try to single out events where this flexibility is being stretched out real thin, which tends to make history, how we got to where we are and where we are going, a bit less opaque – at least to me.⁠

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–Why photography?⁠

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Images offer a direct connection to parts of us that bypass rational thinking. Photography is a way to tap directly into this – a contemporary lingua franca of the subconscious.⁠