I began the Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Programme at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO) in October 2011. My work, Weaving Fabrics for Suits, was developed in the textile department of the Art and Craft faculty. Gerd Tinglum was my first supervisor, and I had two second supervisors, Anne Knutsen and Theodor Barth. Jessica Hemmings was the text supervisor for this reflection. I spent three and a half years on the programme, with my final exhibition Weaving Fabrics for Suits showing at the Oslo Kunstforening (OK) from 13 March to 19 April 2015. The exhibition and an accompanying catalogue were the artistic outcomes presented for assessment in 2015. This reflection text is submitted for review in 2017 and 2018. The reflection is a series of shorter texts – fragments that, to a greater or lesser degree, relate to the context in which they stand. Sections of text in black make up the newly written reflection. Sections of text in green are edited and translated versions of the texts I wrote for the exhibition catalogue in 2015, with the exception of The Blue Suit, which is a new addition written in 2016. These form part of an experiment in poetic writing, and for that reason they have no references. The sections of text in italics are quotes. I choose not to use the term project about my work in the programme. My explorations have not been sufficiently planned or delimited, neither in time nor in content, for project to be a suitable term. My work is built on craftsmanship and my own biography. I use references and theory where they naturally form part of what is necessary to write about. This is not a text about the history of the Norwegian textile industry. It is not a text based on phenomenology, economy or queer studies. It’s a text about sensation, longing, belonging, memory, pride and being gay. I write about my work and about myself, based on my experience as a tailor, weaver and dyer – above all from the perspective of my practice, as a maker.
