My Story

I grew up in a tiny village in Northern Norway surrounded by beautiful nature and tall mountains. My whole life I have been creative, having hobbies like singing, guitar, theatre, painting, drawing and writing. My first ambition was to become a classical singer, and I trained for three years whilst completing High School. However, I soon realised that my introverted nature did not fit a performer lifestyle, so I went on to pursue art instead. At University of Tromsø I studied Art Science for one semester before getting in to the Special Effects Makeup Course at NISS (Nordic Intitute for Scene and Studio) in Oslo. I completed the course and transferred to University of Hertfordshire in the UK to complete my degree in BA (Hons) Model Design - Character and Creative Effects. My dissertation was on the aesthetics of cadavers in TV shows titles: “Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who is the Most Gore-geous of them all?” - The Deathsthetics of the Cadaver in Contemporary TV. This was later adapted to a shorter article and published on the Wellcome Collections Blog space in October 2020. From 2016 I have spent most of my professional life working in the film industry as a freelancer, mostly as an art finisher, seamer and foam runner, and the occational on set work. In 2020 I started making candles and digital artwork (which can be found in my Etsy- shop and under products).

The film industry is so much fun, but also really hard work! I also felt my interlectual side lacked stimulation, so I applied for MA in Folklore Studies at University of Hertfordshire. The course was a perfect fit and it reignited my passion for lore, myths, witchcraft and legends. My dissertation was titled: Depicting Disease - Folkloric Motif of Plague and Pestilence Represented in Western Culture from The Black Death to COVID-19. It focused on how we understand disease through art and stories. This has become a real passion for me and I intend to continue to research this topic and work on creating artistic ways to communicate health information and awarness.
In 2020 I was forunate to get one of my MA essays adapted and published in the Journal Time and Mind. My article Haunted by the memory of WWII: folklore, hauntology and the spectre of war in the Northern Norwegian landscape focused on how our folktales and ghost stories are affected by local history and also features in the local landscape.

I have discovered a passion for teaching and lecturing, and it is a performative outlet for myself. I have been a regular Visiting Lecturer at Arts University of Bournemouth since 2020, teaching level 5 and level 6 on BA (Hons) Make-up for Media and Performance about Foam Latex. In 2022 I was very lucky to be offered a position as VL on my old BA course (BA (Hons) Model Design) and I have been doing regular lectures on a range of topics such as Gothic aesthetics, realism and surrealism, hoaxes, Baba Yaga and many other interesting subjects! In addition to teaching on Model Design I have taken on a VL role with the Postgraduate Media course at UH, where I currently host 6 lectures as well as many seminars! In addititon to this I am now also helping out on BA Animation as a dissertation supervisor as well as feedback and tutorials for students on MA Animal and Character Animation.

Mental Health is a very important subject to me, and after struggeling with it for over ten years I decided that I wanted to help raise awarness. I created an additional Instagram account (@melancholic_artperson) and I try to post as often as I can on different topic on mental health, to fight the stigma and create a safe enviroment to openly discuss these issues. In 2020 I started struggling with my physical health as well, and my awarness account has also created space for me to talk about invisible disabilities, such as CFS, EDS and Fibromyalgia. In early summer 2023 I was finally diagnosed with Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (I was 1 point away from Hypermobile Ehler-Danlos Syndrome), and I have finally started treatment for my condition.

In 2021 I came out as Non Binary and previously I came out at pansexual. I use she/them/her/they pronouns. Being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community has become very important to me and I am including this part of myself into my artwork! I am also now a reptile mum to 3 lovely furry and scaly kids (plus a bonus slimy child, Legolas the snail!)! Lilith (Blue Tongue Skink), Klaus (Royal Python) and Mr Frodo (rescued mixed dog from Romania)! I have always loved animals and these three little rascals help me a lot with my mental health!

In the future I am aiming to continue to make art, continue my academic lecturing and complete some of my writing projects. I have ambitions to combine my art and folklore to create exhibitions. The same goes for mental health and my interest in medical art and health communication, and I am working on both artwork and written work within these topics.