Charlotte Nilsen and Gerd Wevling Matre met as students at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 1998. Since then, they have maintained a close dialogue and become deeply involved in each other’s lives and work.
Charlotte Nilsen weaves rugs from sheep’s wool—sheared, carded, spun, and dyed in the small village of Acersif in Morocco. There, she collaborates with four weavers from the Indigenous Tamazight people. Together, they have revived a nearly forgotten weaving technique.
Gerd Wevling Matre lives on a farm in Sarpsborg, sourcing raw materials for her artistic production from the surrounding environment. She fells trees and throws them into the sheep pen, later retrieving branches that the animals have stripped of their bark.
Both artists’ practices are rooted in long creative processes and personal narratives. The visibility of vulnerability, the history of materials, and the influence of nature play a significant role in their artistic expressions and serve as a unifying thread between their works.
This exhibition at the Sámi Center for Contemporary Art marks the first time Charlotte Nilsen and Gerd Wevling Matre are presenting their works together.
The exhibition is curated by Siri Ensrud.
