About
Artist´s Statement:
In my black and white works, I mainly work intuitively and instinctively, and images are often triggered by objects, memories and experiences, – real or imagined. I try to explore relations in life through dreamlike re-visitations of a childhood’s play-scapes, escaping into other worlds. Known – and yet unknown.
All my black and white prints are silver gelatin, printed by myself.
Biography:
Helén Petersen (b. Bergen, Norway) is a Norwegian photographer based on Stord and
Halsnøy, off the west coast of Norway, where the surrounding nature serves as a vital source
of inspiration for her enigmatic and intimate photographs. She is a self-taught artist, but over
the years she has participated in and assisted at numerous photography workshops, as well
as received individual mentorship in darkroom techniques.
For the past 15 years, Petersen has worked primarily with photography as her main artistic
medium. Drawing on a background in painting, drawing, and sculpture, she brings a distinctive sense of visual energy and material presence to her narratives.
Through her work, Helén Petersen invites us into a quiet yet charged black-and-white
universe, where memory and imagination seamlessly merge. Her works emerge through an
intuitive and instinctive process, often triggered by memories-real or imagined-as well as by
objects, experiences, and nature.
Nature occupies a central place in Petersen’s visual world, whether it appears in microscopic
details or expansive landscapes. For her, the greatest can only exist through the smallest.
Through dreamlike revisitations of the landscapes of childhood, she creates spaces that
allow us to enter other realities-familiar, yet at the same time strangely unfamiliar and sometimes obscure.
Petersen mainly works with analogue silver gelatin prints, meticulously handcrafted in her
own darkroom. Each photograph bears the imprint of a slow, tactile process that lends the
images a distinctive depth and intimacy-an imprint of time, light, and silence.
Petersen´s work has been exhibited in the United Kingdom, Germany,
the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Georgia, the United States, Japan, Serbia, and Norway,
and she is represented by LA Noble Gallery, London,U.K, MidtunDowling Gallery, Bergen Norway, And Galleri Lichtblick, Cologne, Germany
Alongside her own artistic practice, Petersen is Head of Department at Halsnøy Monastery,
Sunnhordland Museum, where she curates exhibitions, concerts, lectures, and conferences
throughout the year. She was also the administrative director of the museum’s Artist-in
Residence programme 2010 – 2025.
“Over these years, I have found photography to be the best medium for my personal expression.
For as long as I can remember, images have been playing on my mind, like dreams. Whether through drawing, painting or sculpting, I was always trying to capture these elusive moments.
Now, I try to do so through the lens of a camera. “
CV:
2026:
12.11.- 12.12.2026: “Realities Imagined” at Galerie Depardieu, Nice, France ( duo)
2025:
21.08.-20.09.25: “Realities Imagined” – Up North Art Society, Bergen, Norway. (solo)
21.05.-04.06.25: “Anywhere was” , Belgrade Photomonth, TransformArt Gallery, Belgrade, Serbia (duo show with Ø. Hjelmen)
2024:
16th march.-13th april: Group show “Naturally human” ,with the series “Space below” Up North Art Society, Bergen, Norway
2023:
7th.september.-14.th october.: “Space Below”, Galerie Depardieu, Nice, France, (solo)
18.th february- 1.st march: “Space Below” and “Incandesence”, Up North Art Society, Bergen, Norway (collective)
2020:
4th. July – 16th. August: Les Arlesiennes with the series “Space below“ at Mia Casa Creative space
2018
28th Nov.- 1st. Dec.: FIXphotofestival/LANoblegallery,London with series “Anywhere was”
August/September: Open call #Me Too at Perspective gallery, Evanston Illinois. Curated by Jane Fulton Alt
& Online exhibition: https://youtu.be/7GFvwrehjr0?t=278
2017:
5th. nov. 2017 – 01.jan. 2018
Duo-show with Øyvind Hjelmen, showing Scents of Caramel & Elsewhere in Skånevik Fjordhotel, Norway
2016:
De Henehoeve Gallery Heks, Belgium – ‘Ladies Only’ # 1 – Velvet, Dwarfs and Crocodiles ,16th of May – 26th of June 2016
Women Photographers with portraits of people and landscapes curated by Tina Schelhorn
Galerie Lichtblick, Cologne, 19.12.15 -28.02.2016, Ladies Only #3- Contemporary Women Photographers Curated by Tina Schelhorn
2015
Atelier Cinq, part of the Voies-Off-festival in Arles, 2015, Ladies Only – Contemporary Women Photographers Curated by Tina Schelhorn
2014
Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art, Kolga Tbilisi Photo Meeting 2014, Ladies Only – Contemporary Women Photographers Curated by Tina Schelhorn
2013
Gallery Entre Deux, Tokyo, Duo-show with Øyvind Hjelmen, “Some precious memories” , curated by Naoko Ohta
Image editor,contributing photographer and co-author for first literary work about Halsnøy Monastery – 850 years . Published November 2013.
Unseen Art Fair, Amsterdam, with LANG Gallery, Laura Noble.
LA NOBLE Gallery ,show & Salons, London , curated by Laura Noble
2010 Contributing photographer for the book and brochure about Malmanger Prestegard (Vicarage) – published 2010
2009 Halsnøy Kloster “Between the lines”
2008 Contributing photographer for web and brochure about Steinparken, Rosendal (Rosendal geological park)
2008 – Contributing photographer for Rosendalsstiftinga
Helen
One Response to “About”
[…] bien, il commence à composer. Au bout d’un jour ou deux, nous sommes invités à dîner chez Helén Petersen et Øyvind Hjelmen, les organisateurs de la résidence d’artistes, tous deux également […]