Utstilling

Avgang 2025: Thyra Dragseth: oh mother a face in the floor mother oh

Pass deg for de blodrøde dørene sa mamma
Stille, men strengt
Sveve for å elske
Komme fri fra munnen, sa jeg
- Terje Dragseth, Nattsøsteren, Voodoo Science

In the exhibition oh mother a face in the floor mother oh addiction and heritage are explored through moving image, photography, and sonic works. Mirroring, as motif and method is explored in various forms throughout the exhibition.

Dragseth assertively cuts in the video between surreal, metaphorical images, handheld footage and text-based documentary footage in which she and her father reads letters to each other. Personal and external sources of material and research are intertwined in video, or in printed text and analog photograph.

The title is taken from a passage in the novel Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, that describes the uncanny nightmare of protagonist Jon Gately. Where he sees the essence of evil takes the shape of a face in the floor, grinning at Gately with its toothy smile, but visible only to him, representing the terrifying mask of addiction.

Dragseth proposes in the work that addiction is a source of an inward “twoness,” of two you-s, battling. It is an experience of living with a split and fragmented self that can lead to egodystonic thoughts or behaviours, like dreams, compulsions, or desires that comes into conflict with ones ideal self-identity. At the core of oh mother a face in the floor mother oh lies a very real hope that in the process of facing ones double it is possible to break the loop.

Thyra Dragseth (1993) is a Norwegian visual artist. She lives and works between Lisbon and Oslo from where she is currently attending the MFA program at the National Academy of the Arts. Dragseth works multidisciplinary with photography, film, sound, text, and installation. Her works often arise from her own lived experiences and perception, becoming pieces of translated reality. She often collaborates with both colleagues and non-artists, implementing collaboration itself as a method for further reflection in her practice. Recent solo and group exhibitions include; Pachinko Oslo; MELK Gallery, Oslo; OSTRA Practice, Lisbon; and Kristiansand Kunsthall.

Thyra Dragseth
21 February - 16 March 2025
K4, Købehavngata 4, 0556 Oslo, Norway

Opening: 21 February: 19-21
Open Saturdays and Sundays 13-15

MFA graduation projects

The final year Master students will present individual graduation projects in different spaces at KHiO and around Oslo. These projects will be diverse in form and will take place at different times during the spring semester. Some of the projects will open simultaneously. The graduating students will also collectively explore the group format in a curated group exhibition.