Text by Sten Nilsen. The article originally appeared in KUNST PLUSS, #1 2019, published by Norske Kunstforeninger.
Women’s Day on March 8th is very important to observe in order to bring into focus values that have been forgotten in our market-liberal and late capitalistic society, says Marta Nerhus, who presents her work at the Women’s Exhibition in Stord Kunstlag [Stord Art Association].
Marta Nerhus has always admired Amalie Skram. Here she is creating a huge portrait of the author in copper wire. Photo: Jan M Lillebø, Bergens Tidende
It’s a distinctive and easily recognizable technique that you use in your work. How did you develop it?
Marta Nerhus (MN): I have worked with wire and metal thread for 30 years, for the first time in the third level, textiles, at the Art Academy in Bergen in 1984, in my weaving period. I brought old hay-drying wire from home in Ølve to weave with, and was super fascinated when I was finished: the work could stand and be formed in three dimensions. Afterwards, a memory surfaced: the way my father handled the haying wire, so simple, so strong, and the sight of the wire, either bare or covered with hay.
After some time experimenting with painting, I returned to the three dimensional, it seemed so natural for me. I experimented some, drew and constructed using black horticultural wire, needing neither loom nor other tools. I saw possibilities in the black wire, both as lines and as a construction material. In 2002/2003 I wanted to make a dress in copper thread for a poem, for my exhibition Sentimentale Bilde [Sentimental Picture] in Stord Prison. For that, the knitting machine was a good implement to make the raw material. Afterwards I could work on a flat surface, and manipulate up on the wall. Suddenly I, who could never draw with perspective and the like, had made a material of copper thread with which I could draw with all my fingers and both hands. For me, the wire reel or spool, is a thread, a line, my alphabet that I can use to say something about life and my values and questions, and at the same time it is extremely delicate. Metal wire and cord are not as soft as silk and wool.
Through your textile work you present stories. Do you work with different themes from one exhibition to the next? And do you think of an exhibition as a holistic narrative, or are there several different stories in each exhibition?
MN: I don’t present just a single story. What I show with art is a way for me to make a statement. I don’t dictate, I win in my own way; something that I feel, something that inspires me to get started. But sometimes it is emotions and interpersonal relationships that I try to express. My exhibitions have been holistic and had a clear theme, but the room where the work will be shown is important for how I develop things. I usually work with a main theme for each exhibition. In the exhibition Sentimantalt bilde on Stord in 2003, I used the entire prison and made different pictures/installations in each cell based on different literary texts by Sunnhordland authors.
The exhibition Folk over fjorden dei på hi sida… [People across the fjord, those on the other side….], Rosendal 2012, was a commentary on the reduction in elder care in Kvinnherad. For that I showed 40 portraits of people who could be affected. I have also incorporated various themes in exhibitions, such as when I developed the exhibition Heim [Home] for the Bryggen Museum in Bergen, 2016. My main focus there was refugees, the migrations of people, showing today’s refugees together with Norwegian emigrants to America and the Norwegian refugees in Norway during the last world war. In that exhibit I also found a place for a work I had completed but had not shown before: Heltar frå Hardanger [Heroes from Hardanger], which showed three of the activists against Monstermastane i Hardanger [Monster Masts in Hardanger, a protest against a proposed power line]. I find it difficult to do good work when I don’t feel something in my heart. But then there is something to be said for being free to experience and for me to think as the audience. This I would state and believe, that there is something with the technique and my expression that is so fragile, that at its best can reach some inner chord, setting emotions and thoughts in motion.
Portrett av Kim Friele, 2013, Marta Nerhus. Photo: Pål Hoff
Images of powerful men have traditionally been placed on a pedestal, while in your work, strong, distinctive women are embroidered. Do you have any thoughts about this?
MN: Oh, so many men who stand about, hard and rigid, and so few women have received their just recognition. I have chosen to spend time making portraits of women who I think we should not forget, those about whom I would like to make the young curious. I have done that with my own material and with my own techniques. I hope that with my art I have come closer to the fragility of life. That which I have drawn with my wire is important in my understanding of myself in the world. It represents something that is so human, and that is so courageous. When I took the initiative to make an exhibition in Litteraturhuset [The House of Literature] in Bergen that opened on March 8, 2013, I decided to create portraits of women, authors and others who had used the word, before men took the entire house. These images are not embroidered, they are drawn in my knitted copper wire material, but I have occasionally used a sewing needle to fasten them to the leather.
Marta Nerhus wrote, “I have chosen to spend time making portraits of women who I think we should not forget, those about whom I would like to make the young curious.” Photo: Pål Hoff
You will participate in the “Women’s Exhibition” in Stord Kunstlag, an exhibition that actually opens on Women’s Day. Why is it important to observe Women’s Day?
MN: Women’s Day, March 8th, is extremely important to observe in order to bring attention to the values that were forgotten in our market-liberal and late capitalistic world. Our earth has been on its way to hell due to the masculine and economic values that have set the agenda for all too long. Life and humanity are considered one size that is “zeroed’ by those who have power. Our oceans and lands are mortgaged for economic growth, and along the way they deny refugees, mothers and war-wounded people the rights to a new future. We give life, take care of life, and many of us have other values than those who set the agenda and make decisions. We need to join together to try to change these perversions here at home and out in the larger world.
As Far as the Boat can go (2016), Marta Nerhus. Photo: Pål Hoff.
What women’s issues do you think are worth fighting for inside and outside the art world?
MN: I can just mention last year’s Peace Prize winners, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad. That which they tell us about atrocities committed against women. Rape and violence in our own streets where the perpetrators go free. Twisted men who abuse children and indulge in internet sex with small children from, for example, Thailand. This is contempt for life and human dignity, and it is mostly women who are the victims. This year it will also be important to protect the abortion law when the pietists, with Erna Solberg’s blessing, cast doubt on women’s judgement concerning abortion; [it’s important] that art museums, foremost galleries, art dealers and the press see what is happening. Most people with art education today in Norway are women; talk about what we do, and don’t just let the big boys get the opportunities. There is much women’s artistry that has been overlooked; purchases by museums speak volumes.
The Women’s Exhibition is a yearly event, which Stord Kunstlag has held since 2003. Stord Kunstlag noted that there were many woman artists from Stord, or with connections to Stord. The first year they had about 20 artists. After several years this energized the Kvinnelag [Women’s Association], and they entered a cooperative arrangement with Tverrpolitisk [Cross-party] forum, starting a joint event for Women’s Day. Over time it has become a large event, with about 300 people present for the exhibition opening, as well as additional events in the cultural house, parades, concerts, speeches and food and drink.
Detail of Marta Nerhus’s wire imagery. Photo: Robbie LaFleur
Tools in Marta Nerhus’s studio space at the United Sardine Factory in Bergen: wire, a knitting machine. Photo: Robbie LaFleur
See more of Marta Nerhus’s work at her website: martanerhus.no.
Translated by Katherine Larson, Department of Scandinavian Studies, University of Washington
August 2022
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