1 00:00:25,080-->00:00:32,280 First, it's that this is a portrait- program, and when I said yes to it, - 2 00:00:32,360-->00:00:37,280 - I did not think that it was important to my story. 3 00:00:37,400-->00:00:40,600 Now, when we sit and talk ... 4 00:00:40,720-->00:00:47,600 Where you go behind the pictures, where you are naked, - 5 00:00:47,760-->00:00:53,320 - is a completely new situation. I've never done it before. 6 00:01:35,400-->00:01:43,800 Here you have ... Regent's Canal runs through here. It's a lovely place. 7 00:01:44,080-->00:01:49,800 I live just up the street, and so I come here to work in the morning. 8 00:01:49,920-->00:01:54,720 There is no hectic London life for me here. 9 00:01:54,840-->00:01:57,640 Some coffee? 10 00:01:58,880-->00:02:03,680 I have two homes: London and Lofoten. 11 00:02:03,800-->00:02:06,280 Two studios, two homes. 12 00:02:06,400-->00:02:11,400 What's so fascinating with England, is that it's so old fashioned. 13 00:02:11,520-->00:02:15,720 But it's so modern, too. With fashion, music, art. 14 00:02:15,880-->00:02:19,240 And there's the one cold tap! 15 00:02:21,080-->00:02:26,120 It's an old work, but it's mine. 16 00:02:26,240-->00:02:31,640 I won't sell it. It's a work I live with, even here in the studio. 17 00:02:31,760-->00:02:36,400 "Between the morning and the handbag," it's called. 18 00:02:47,360-->00:02:52,360 Now, ten years have passed in England, and there's been plenty good here. 19 00:02:52,480-->00:02:56,800 But our home has always been in Lofoten. 20 00:03:13,360-->00:03:16,760 I work with painting, photography, film ... 21 00:03:16,880-->00:03:22,360 Actually, I'm not interested in technique. I will tell you something. 22 00:03:36,160-->00:03:39,840 I am not afraid to look for the beautiful,- 23 00:03:39,960-->00:03:44,960 - and the very beautiful is a bit dangerous. It's going to burst. 24 00:03:45,080-->00:03:50,760 Whether there is great love or beauty or youth ... 25 00:03:50,880-->00:03:55,040 Or a bird, as "Moving Mountain". 26 00:03:55,200-->00:04:01,760 One bird is beautiful, but many, and it's almost scary, almost terror. 27 00:04:16,120-->00:04:20,120 And the border I know lies within my work.. 28 00:04:20,240-->00:04:25,400 It's a driving force in a lot of what I do. In life. 29 00:04:26,880-->00:04:29,880 That's the way it is. 30 00:04:40,720-->00:04:46,240 Great! You're good in the picture! Now we'll go down to her shoulders. 31 00:04:46,360-->00:04:50,280 Left! Great. And then the chest. 32 00:04:51,440-->00:04:54,480 I started very late with the art. 33 00:04:54,640-->00:04:56,480 Stop! 34 00:04:56,600-->00:05:02,840 I come from a family that wanted me to be something extraordinary. 35 00:05:02,960-->00:05:09,200 And being an artist was to be lost in a way. 36 00:05:14,000-->00:05:21,080 But there was one thing that happened when I was 28. 37 00:05:21,280-->00:05:30,040 Olaf, my brother, who was my closest in age, died within three months. 38 00:05:32,680-->00:05:39,200 Here I am. And Olaf. He was only 34 years old. 39 00:05:42,000-->00:05:47,720 And that was how ... It could just as easily been me. 40 00:05:49,400-->00:05:54,440 I thought that now you have to just do what you want with your life, - 41 00:05:54,600-->00:05:57,840 - and that is to work with art. 42 00:05:59,880-->00:06:07,400 After Olaf's funeral I went out, at Club 7, and danced all night. 43 00:06:08,240-->00:06:12,040 I was extremely conscious of the life and times. 44 00:06:12,160-->00:06:15,840 So that was just a milestone. 45 00:06:40,040-->00:06:45,840 After the academy, I wanted to just leave. Away from Norway. 46 00:06:45,960-->00:06:51,320 I was lucky and got a scholarship to Berlin, 87-88. 47 00:06:55,200-->00:06:58,440 I did two things at once. 48 00:06:58,560-->00:07:03,920 I wanted to work with art, and I had a child of 4 years. 49 00:07:11,040-->00:07:18,080 This photo I took of Thora in Berlin. When she was 5. 50 00:07:19,120-->00:07:24,640 I came from the Brundtland of Norway in a government with 50 percent women. 51 00:07:24,760-->00:07:31,200 When I came to Berlin and asked where the nearest nursery was, - 52 00:07:31,360-->00:07:37,920 - they were shocked because I had children. 53 00:07:38,040-->00:07:43,680 Before it had only been male artists there with children, - 54 00:07:43,800-->00:07:46,680 - and they had a wife with them. 55 00:07:46,800-->00:07:53,360 Then I realized that I had to separate having children - 56 00:07:53,480-->00:07:56,240 - from my job. 57 00:07:56,400-->00:08:00,800 A very sour girl who has gone and settled in. 58 00:08:03,560-->00:08:10,440 The only problem with having children was that no one expected anything of me. 59 00:08:10,560-->00:08:15,320 And I expected a lot of myself. 60 00:08:16,640-->00:08:23,080 So I quickly realized that here I had to separate. 61 00:08:24,440-->00:08:30,160 It was great to be a mom and get to play when I got home, - 62 00:08:30,360-->00:08:34,520 - but my job was the studio. And there I was strict. 63 00:08:34,680-->00:08:40,520 Thora had to knock on the door to enter. It was my room. 64 00:08:47,000-->00:08:53,160 Sketch books from many years back. I have not seen them in 25 years! 65 00:08:53,320-->00:08:56,560 "Small home. A portion of the studio. Much." 66 00:08:58,840-->00:09:03,880 Oi. "Dear Thora, I'm so scared." 67 00:09:08,560-->00:09:11,160 That's strange. 68 00:09:13,000-->00:09:16,800 I don't know ... 69 00:09:18,200-->00:09:20,720 There was a lot at once. 70 00:09:21,480-->00:09:29,520 There was a lot of responsibility. And I wanted the best for her. 71 00:09:31,360-->00:09:35,880 What am I ... Where are we going, my child? 72 00:09:38,880-->00:09:42,800 Because I was alone with a lot of responsibility. 73 00:09:42,960-->00:09:46,840 I think that must have had something to do with it. 74 00:09:46,960-->00:09:52,360 And that mom will be strong and safe. 75 00:09:54,280-->00:10:00,280 So it was perhaps only in the sketch book I could tell her that. 76 00:10:03,120-->00:10:07,080 I don't know what it was. 77 00:10:09,920-->00:10:13,160 But we have managed us well. 78 00:10:13,760-->00:10:17,960 We're both very good at living life. 79 00:10:30,800-->00:10:34,880 Great! Hips! Lovely. 80 00:10:35,200-->00:10:39,600 It's about completely ordinary things in life, as ... 81 00:10:41,200-->00:10:46,080 Everyday life is not so trivial, for we take things for granted. 82 00:10:46,200-->00:10:50,320 What we think is normal, is not so normal after all. 83 00:10:50,440-->00:10:54,920 All clear? Camera going! 84 00:11:08,280-->00:11:13,840 Right now I'm coming straight from the shoot and I'm cold and tired. 85 00:11:13,960-->00:11:19,400 Right now, I may be uncertain, but then I have to trust my instincts. 86 00:11:19,520-->00:11:24,680 The moment when you saw that it was something that swung there, - 87 00:11:24,760-->00:11:30,360 - it's a great moment, that one yearns for again and again. 88 00:11:30,480-->00:11:34,280 Neither the world's best wine or measure of time - 89 00:11:34,400-->00:11:39,600 - can compete with the kick you get in the moment you see that - 90 00:11:39,720-->00:11:44,600 - light and movement and something you had not reckoned with, happens. 91 00:11:44,720-->00:11:47,400 Then I'm satisfied. 92 00:11:48,960-->00:11:54,040 It was fantastic! That was a "take", that. Cool. 93 00:11:55,320-->00:12:00,800 It's going well! You know, it's very good. 94 00:12:28,640-->00:12:33,200 Thank you so much for coming! This is a small preview - 95 00:12:33,320-->00:12:37,200 - of a new work "The day the sky became my ground". 96 00:12:38,920-->00:12:41,360 It's so good. Congratulations! 97 00:12:41,480-->00:12:44,840 -Beautiful. -It looks gorgeous! 98 00:12:55,080-->00:12:59,960 -So ... -What are you thinking? 99 00:13:00,320-->00:13:06,040 It's beautiful. It's so nice when people come and experience something - 100 00:13:06,160-->00:13:11,320 - and think it's delicious. I'm greatly satisfied. 101 00:13:16,480-->00:13:20,400 Can you run to Laburnum Street in Hackney? 102 00:13:24,520-->00:13:28,400 Sometimes there is so much to do that I panic. 103 00:13:28,520-->00:13:34,400 But I'll take one thing at a time. And one thing leads to another. 104 00:13:35,520-->00:13:43,320 Right now I have a big project which opens in Oslo on 20 December. 105 00:13:43,400-->00:13:49,840 It takes very much space now. And a solo exhibition in London in January. 106 00:13:49,960-->00:13:55,240 Then I go to China in 14 days. Then it's in Switzerland. 107 00:13:55,360-->00:13:59,440 Copenhagen. And Canada. 108 00:14:02,440-->00:14:06,320 Maybe I say yes to too much. 109 00:14:07,000-->00:14:09,720 But it's amazing to see ... 110 00:14:09,800-->00:14:13,360 "Liberty," which is shown in the North Norwegian Art Museum, - 111 00:14:13,480-->00:14:17,320 - Copenhagen, Switzerland and St. Petersburg. 112 00:14:24,760-->00:14:29,000 "Liberty" is a huge iceberg that is similar to the Statue of Liberty. 113 00:14:29,120-->00:14:33,120 In St. Petersburg, it was seen as a very political work. 114 00:14:33,240-->00:14:38,200 Elsewhere it will be seen as a very organic work. 115 00:14:38,320-->00:14:43,520 Or a work that reflects the north. 116 00:14:43,640-->00:14:49,200 So it's interesting to see the work in very different cultures and countries. 117 00:15:05,400-->00:15:10,440 It has always been good for my work when I have moved myself on. 118 00:15:13,920-->00:15:18,400 I know I will be more observant in an entirely new room. 119 00:15:19,600-->00:15:25,360 There to stay at a horizon is fine, because you do not know what's behind. 120 00:15:25,480-->00:15:28,400 It's very open. 121 00:15:28,520-->00:15:34,440 And there was something similar in Berlin by the wall, I lived on the border - 122 00:15:34,560-->00:15:41,160 - with a balcony that faced the east. And we could not go further east. 123 00:15:41,280-->00:15:47,960 It was like staying at a horizon. It was unattainable. 124 00:15:49,600-->00:15:58,360 It was on the balcony I took a Super 8 camera out of focus - 125 00:15:58,480-->00:16:02,880 - and spun it around myself. 126 00:16:03,200-->00:16:09,040 And then there were police boats on the Spree, and the guards looking at me. 127 00:16:09,160-->00:16:14,520 There I stood naked, and had to keep going until the film ran out, in 3 min. 128 00:16:14,640-->00:16:19,000 It has been 20 years since, and I found that movie now. 129 00:16:19,760-->00:16:24,600 And now I thought that I would do the same. 130 00:16:24,960-->00:16:27,720 -Why should you be nude? -What? 131 00:16:27,840-->00:16:30,600 Why should you be nude? 132 00:16:30,760-->00:16:36,280 Why, because it's the vulnerability, only skin facing the world. 133 00:16:36,440-->00:16:41,520 I will do the same as I did in Berlin. 134 00:16:52,160-->00:16:54,160 Done with it. 135 00:16:54,280-->00:16:57,840 It's my first self portrait. 136 00:16:57,960-->00:17:03,120 It's my skin. In relation to the world I live in. 137 00:17:03,240-->00:17:07,520 I stand still, and the world spins around me. 138 00:17:14,960-->00:17:20,960 Fantastic. It's 3 minutes, and you almost forget that you're with a camera. 139 00:17:21,080-->00:17:24,040 You begin to feel the world around. 140 00:17:24,160-->00:17:29,320 And then there's the skin tone that I hope is quite out of focus, - 141 00:17:29,440-->00:17:35,240 - so you do not see that it's me, it's just something you feel. 142 00:17:37,960-->00:17:42,040 We made it! It's raw. 143 00:17:42,440-->00:17:48,320 I took two rolls. I did not hold the camera the right way! 144 00:17:48,480-->00:17:53,960 But it might be sky ground or vice versa. 145 00:17:54,080-->00:17:58,200 And it's the moment. If I had a digital camera, - 146 00:17:58,320-->00:18:03,400 - I might spool it back and look at what I've done. 147 00:18:03,680-->00:18:08,400 It's very exciting to come back to London - 148 00:18:08,520-->00:18:11,400 - and scan it and look at it. 149 00:18:17,840-->00:18:23,080 1989 in the east, cold winter on the balcony. 150 00:18:23,240-->00:18:30,000 And now this summer in the mountains. Winter skin. Summer skin. 151 00:18:33,920-->00:18:39,680 If I knew what I would say with a work, I would not make it. 152 00:18:39,800-->00:18:44,920 But when you get the two skin surfaces with 20 years of space ... 153 00:18:45,080-->00:18:49,320 Everything that has happened in the 20 years ... 154 00:18:49,480-->00:18:53,480 So it's definitely a self-portrait. 155 00:19:03,400-->00:19:10,400 -Those who see it, do not understand it? -But you don't have to understand it all! 156 00:19:10,520-->00:19:15,680 If it's beautiful to look at, you know suddenly again skin, - 157 00:19:15,760-->00:19:20,520 - maybe your own, others ... One need not understand art. 158 00:19:20,640-->00:19:25,560 Then you can create a program where you tell a documentary. 159 00:19:25,680-->00:19:31,200 But you do not understand this. If it's good to watch. 160 00:19:50,920-->00:19:58,080 Now I have extra film, 16 mm camera. Where did I put it? 161 00:20:00,000-->00:20:02,440 There! 162 00:20:08,800-->00:20:10,880 My baby. 163 00:20:19,800-->00:20:24,480 Hi! Welcome! 164 00:20:24,840-->00:20:30,520 Sigmund is a wonderful, elderly man who lives on Yoshida. 165 00:20:32,840-->00:20:39,320 I always work with family and friends, not actors. 166 00:20:40,120-->00:20:46,160 But when you get closer to the camera, make sure you don't chew. 167 00:20:50,080-->00:20:55,400 You see that it can be a bit dangerous to be my neighbor! 168 00:20:55,520-->00:20:58,640 One can often end up in a movie. 169 00:20:58,760-->00:21:04,240 But it's because I respect the people, and have a contact. 170 00:21:31,880-->00:21:36,760 You know what I'll never forget, that was so good? 171 00:21:36,880-->00:21:43,000 I'll never forget, when I was in shock after Vicco died ... 172 00:21:43,120-->00:21:48,480 When you came to me, and as you said ... You gave me a hug on the street and said: 173 00:21:48,600-->00:21:52,160 "You must have it completely for completeness' sake." 174 00:21:57,480-->00:22:04,720 2005 was a dramatic year for me because Vicco, my husband, died. 175 00:22:07,520-->00:22:12,280 It was so good that you spoke right out. I'll never forget it. 176 00:22:12,440-->00:22:16,520 For all the talk about something else and trying to cover up ... 177 00:22:16,720-->00:22:22,040 But you were so - right on. It was so safe. 178 00:22:30,800-->00:22:34,520 He was only 42 years. 179 00:22:35,200-->00:22:38,920 And I lost all balance. 180 00:22:50,800-->00:22:56,640 "Amazon" was made in late summer 2005. 181 00:22:57,680-->00:23:05,240 Amazon is a story in Greek mythology of the warrior women - 182 00:23:05,400-->00:23:08,800 - who cut off a breast ... 183 00:23:11,720-->00:23:16,760 ... to achieve the target better with a bow and arrow. 184 00:23:22,080-->00:23:26,160 I needed to find a new balance. 185 00:23:26,440-->00:23:30,840 So I went to London, and learned to shoot with bow and arrow. 186 00:23:30,920-->00:23:36,920 I went twice a week to a club on a field in East London and shot. 187 00:23:37,040-->00:23:42,400 And it's amazing, when you are out of balance, you must find the balance. 188 00:23:42,520-->00:23:47,640 You have a goal. You stand on your feet, and at the moment ... 189 00:23:52,040-->00:23:59,120 There is no sound, but I edited to the Shostakovich string quartet. 190 00:24:00,680-->00:24:07,240 So I cut 150 clips in one minute. 191 00:24:12,160-->00:24:18,440 But there is no music in the end; everything was in my head when I cut. 192 00:24:41,000-->00:24:47,760 I think my work is very much about life. 193 00:24:49,120-->00:24:54,840 And because it's so much about life, I deal with death all the time. 194 00:24:55,680-->00:25:02,160 On the basis of pain you get, you may want to create something beautiful. 195 00:25:14,440-->00:25:21,560 The naked body sitting there ... Incredibly beautiful and strong. 196 00:25:23,400-->00:25:28,440 Just the minutes in the morning when the sun comes up from the sea, - 197 00:25:28,560-->00:25:30,960 - and the fragility ... 198 00:25:31,080-->00:25:35,240 Alongside is a handbag, so she is ready to go anyway. 199 00:25:35,360-->00:25:40,400 It's just between the beginning and end and the beautiful, - 200 00:25:40,520-->00:25:45,320 - and that she actually probably going to run away soon. 201 00:26:30,880-->00:26:33,920 A little large ... 202 00:26:34,760-->00:26:37,280 Bye! 203 00:26:38,400-->00:26:41,960 Although I have gone through a lot in recent years ... 204 00:26:42,080-->00:26:47,000 There to stand up every day and work with what I want ... 205 00:26:47,120-->00:26:52,600 When I landed here, I was very happy. 206 00:26:52,760-->00:26:57,120 And I have seen very important things here. 207 00:26:57,260-->00:27:01,200 In a way I feel, as a good friend says, - 208 00:27:01,320-->00:27:04,240 - that the world is my home. 209 00:27:04,320-->00:27:10,640 But here I have experienced great love, wedding, funeral. 210 00:27:10,840-->00:27:15,480 He is here in a cemetery a little farther away. 211 00:27:16,040-->00:27:21,040 He was a foreigner, but now he's a permanent resident. I'm out and flying! 212 00:27:21,160-->00:27:25,760 He is here all the time. So there is no home here. 213 00:27:25,880-->00:27:34,320 But then life goes on, and I have a new bed, new sketchbook, new project. 214 00:27:58,080-->00:28:01,360 -What are you staring at? 215 00:28:02,080-->00:28:05,560 A dream and a goal. 216 00:28:05,880-->00:28:11,400 This is my studio in Lofoten, my future studio. 217 00:28:11,560-->00:28:16,400 In recent years there has only been like "living here and now". 218 00:28:16,560-->00:28:21,920 But now I think about the future. It's important with this project. 219 00:28:22,040-->00:28:27,520 I can imagine a big door where you can take the paintings out. 220 00:28:28,120-->00:28:35,080 I really yearn paint here again. In this light. 221 00:28:45,400-->00:28:49,280 I feel I have so much left to discover. 222 00:28:49,400-->00:28:56,000 I hope I can be an old lady. Then I will create art all the time. 223 00:28:56,120-->00:29:00,280 I am not afraid to grow old at all! 293 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:25,000 Engish subtitles: Lex Ein subs.hopto.org