Ellen Espelund is an artist which mainly works in the media of photography and mixed media painting, but takes advantage of all media which can intermix to get her message through and are also working on future installation projects among other. The poetic and conceptual are keywords for all her art and projects. She was born in Oslo, Norway, 1973 and moved back to the city in 2011. She has her studio in an old building in the most eclectic part of the norwegian capitol. She also travels extensively, seeing the whole world as her home. She’s constantly exploring, meeting new people, learning, experiencing and challenging herself…
The story: I started photographing at the age of 11, inspired by the fact that my parents was doing art photography, fascinated by portraits from the first moment as I was the observer that was fascinated by people from early age. I moved on to having photography as a school subject the whole 9th grade where I had the opportunity to work in dark room, to explore the world of photography further. In upper secondary I went for a year in art school where I also had the opportunity to explore different mediums and tecniques. After trying other studies I planned to go back to art school, but then the dramatic death of my mum made me put the art, photography, writing and other aside for years to do what seemed more reasonable as I was told art was “risky business”, and to later take an education that seemed “safer”. I was also trying to fit in, to hide my artistic soul and be like everyone else, which is dead end for an artist, but to choose to go back to art school or in that direction wasn’t an option for the years that followed. Then I reached a point of change, I couldn’t hold back my artistic needs anymore and I commited fully to my artistic career to not have to hibernate as an artist again…
About the art: My art and writing is a lot about the layers in emotions, which makes us who we are. The memories we keep in our hearts, that makes us feel and react as we do. And our dreams that we often not dare to follow. But to dare following your dream at some point in your life, is a thing I often repeat, because life is too short and too precious to not get the most of it if you can. Not on the expense of our loved ones, because they are the most important, but on the expense of more materialistic needs that rarely makes you happy after all. I also often asks subtle questions through my art, like “what is freedom actually to you?
Media for expressions: Photography, writing and painting are main medias for my expressions. The poetic and conceptual are keywords for all my projects. Mixed media in most of my paintings. I also do design, graphics, webdesign and webbased projects, digital art, video art etc. Always experimenting with new ways to get my messages out, to communicate regarding my projects and through my art.
“To catch your dreams and make them become real, you have to leave some of the things that holds you back behind… Clean up and toss and know which suitcases you need to bring and which to not… Don’t envy others who has made it, but let it inspire you to do it yourself..”
Title: No one shall ever take my freedom away
