Throughout the fall semester, all the students at NISS are required to work on an independent art project. Inspired by a series of marvellous urban images by Brett Amory, I have decided to abandon the fantasy genre and for the first time depict real life. More precisely, I shall be capturing glimpses of urban scenes in Oslo. You could say this is both a way for me to widen my artistic horizon and expand my repertoire of subjects, as well as a way for me to reconcile and come to terms with a city that I now live in, but have a rather ambivalent relationship with.

In this first instance, I am trying to identify what is uniquely Oslo in terms of its architecture and people. I have decided I am going to play detective with a modern twist. As well as walking around Oslo experiencing the city first hand, I will gather inspirational tidbits on my Pinterest board, take street photos with Instagram and discover hidden everyday scenes immortalised in Google Street View. Photography will play a crucial role, because I want to imitate the way photography not only freezes seemingly trivial images of everyday life, but how impulsive snapshots cuts off subjects, viewing angles and buildings and deny the viewer a staged scene.

Here are some initial sketches: