Tonje Plur (b. 1985 in Oslo) lives and works in Oslo. She has a journeyman’s certificate in dressmaking and a master’s degree in clothes design at Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Through bodily sculptural work in textiles, knitting and various sewing techniques she deals with fashion as a phenomenon, working with clothing in a broader sense. She examines how clothes are used as communication and how fashion reveals something about the present, about people, identity and belonging.
In this exhibition Plur examines the relationship between people, surroundings, textiles and the environment. She explores how we are shaped and coloured by the places in which we find ourselves and the times we live in. This is expressed in three dimensional works and photographs. They are textile interpretations of surroundings that Plur herself has spent time in, for shorter or longer periods, at different times of the day throughout the year. They are made from scraps of fabric from previous projects, materials she has found and clothes that people have discarded. These she has transformed into tight knots and long ribbons. With the human body as a starting point she has formed the material so that it may be worn by a person and thus the person becomes the heart of the project, surrounded by landscape, terrain and time. Then Plur transported the works to places she has been to in the landscape surrounding Karasjok and photographed them in collaboration with Marvin Pope. In the exhibition, the textiles extend beyond human sizes and contain underlying textile issues that are deeply rooted in the textile fibres themselves.
Amongst other places, Plur has had solo exhibitions at Hulias (Oslo), Gyldenpris Kunsthall (Bergen), the Textile Industry Museum in Salhus (Salhus), Galleri Vanntårnet (Nesodden), Søgne Old Rectory (Søgne) and participated in the Autumn Exhibition (2021, 2022). Her works have been purchased by the National Museum (2019, 2024).
The exhibition is financed by Kulturrådet og Kunstsentrene i Norge (KiN).
Sámi Parliament Councilor Elisabeth Erke will open the exhibition.
