As I step through Oda’s front door I am greeted by pairs of well-worn boots clustered in the corner, colourful scarves, a breathtaking vista of Table Mountain and a broad smile. She was clad in what used to be a white blouse, which now served as an overall. Her light blonde hair was plaited back and her bare legs already boasted strips of blue paint.
Oda Tungodden is clearly an artist.
As I advance further into her studio apartment I carefully place my feet to avoid disturbing the oil paintings set out on the floor to dry. Every surface is loaded with books, paintbrushes and other art supplies.
“I’m sorry about the chaos – but you know how it is!” she excuses the mess.
On the floor next to her bed, she has thrown down a tarp and set down art supplies. I see dozens of stiff paintbrushes and a small mountain of oil paint. Oda has placed herself strategically to one side with a full view of the charging laptop, access to her supplies and in close proximity to her coffee cup. You could tell this was a set layout.
Oda just completed her second year at Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. She is originally from Bergen, Norway’s second biggest city, and has become a global citizen. She travelled to South Africa five years ago and decided to stay, although she visits her family in Norway often.
Her latest exhibit, ‘Fluid Identity’, catches her suspension between Norway and South Africa. “I think it’s quite poetic and I like it,” Oda says. It captures her unsureness, the fluidity and the uncertainty of dual identities… “which is not bad – it’s actually amazing in many ways. But it’s really confusing.”
The icy landscapes illustrate her nostalgia for the Norwegian fjords and mountains. Her figurines caught in water also symbolises a kind of vastness of the unidentified space she finds herself in being in South Africa as a Norwegian.
“As I’ve lived abroad I have found more interest in the Norwegian landscape. I think of my own heritage, where I come from and my traditions. I think my work is a reflection of this feeling of having a split identity,” Oda shares.
“It’s really confusing and really hard to navigate sometimes. To understand where do I belong and where do I want to be.
“I don’t feel like a South African at all. I feel very foreign actually. But it’s more that this is where I live and this is where my friends are. This is where I learnt how to buy my groceries. I suppose South Africa is where I became an adult.”
“South Africa is where I became an adult. I have never ‘adulted’ in Norway.” Credit: Soninke Combrinck
“Living here has made me realise there are parts of me that are quite Norwegian. Although I never thought so. What I’ve grown up with, the jokes we have, the way we do dinners. All these little things. I think I do incorporate little Norwegian traditions into the way I live.
“When I was younger I did art exhibits at home. I used to paint like crazy. And then I started art school and I moved here and everything became so serious. Thinking about art is where I learnt most about myself and about art. And also most of the people at home don’t really see a lot of the art I do because I’m always here. I want to be able to share it with the people where I’m from.”
Interview with Oda Tungodden
“Art has become such a journey for me. As I go, I never really know what I paint. Where I learn so much in the end about myself that I didn’t realise.”
Oda has been wildly attracted to painting the human body since she could draw. Her fascination and appreciation of the human form come across strongly in her artwork. She has a subtle way of capturing the softness and the strength that encompasses the female figure.
She has developed a particular affinity to painting hands.
Why hands?
“I really like hands. I think it has something to do with the things you do and touch with your hands and feet. It also has to do with the dancing I think. And to me hands symbolise people. And I think it’s symbolic of our agency. We have choices. We can do things.”
The real thing that has caught Oda’s heart in South Africa, apart from her local boyfriend, has been the landscape. The time she does not spend painting and dancing, she spends exploring the mountainsides. To her, the mountains remind her of home and calms her mind.
“Rock climbing is probably what keeps me the most sane. Because when you’re on a rock you better be sane. Otherwise you’re in big trouble,” Oda laughs.
One of the landscapes in ‘Fluid Identity’.
Her love for feral and staggering landscapes translates into her cool portraits of the Norwegian fjords. It offers her a chance to connect with her own Norwegian heritage. She is most inspired by the landscape where her grandfather grew up.
“It’s very empty, just vast mountains. But it’s beautiful to me and I think I had this desire to paint it and I didn’t know how to paint it.
“And it’s really fascinating. I know what a mountain looks like. Then I started painting it and suddenly I realise I don’t know. And I had to do these drawings and these studies. And really pay attention. It was so calming and meditative.”
For more information on Oda’s artwork, visit her website: www.oda-art.com.
Also, visit her Instagram or like her page on Facebook.
Heidi ulla
May 11, 2017What a beatiful piece! Just like Oda’s art, you have a very calming way of writing, I love it! Also, I love the art done by Oda, such a talent!