Billedkunst Live: Damien Ajavon in conversation with Liv Brissach 11.05.2023 Billedkunst live

Artist Damien Ajavon have been working and living at Søndre Green, a farm and artists’ residency near Norefjell, since fall 2022. They are now preparing this year’s AiR Green Mini Festival, opening 13 and 14 May. ‘Protection of Relics’, their works at the exhibition, is built on the story and tradition of a West-African loom, Mandjak — this particular one, however, is built by themselves. Reading about the exhibition, we’ve also come across a photograph of Ajavon, weaving at the loop outdoors, wearing traditional Norwegian clothes; a dress and a pair of antique Selbu mittens (selbuvotter).

Who is Damien?

The artist describes themselves as a “Black, queer textile artist born in France, of Senegalese and Togolese parents […] unearthing and weaving connections with their ancestry through textile languages rather than oral ones.” Furtheron, that “their work is a testament to their strong desire to merge cultures and create something new and beautiful.”

Get to know Damien Ajavon and their work better through this intimate conversation with Liv Brissach, art historian and curator, and also Kristin Lindberg, artist and organizer of Søndre Green and AiR Green, introducing the unique place; its history and possibilities.

Welcome to an audible travel. 

The conversation is part of the programme Billedkunst Live and produced in collaboration with Søndre Green farm. The programme is funded by the Fritt Ord Foundation, Sparebankstiftelsen, and Arts and Culture Norway / Kulturdirektoratet. Billedkunst is published by the Association of Norwegian Visual Artists / Norske Billedkunstnere (NBK). EIC: Kjetil Røed. Co-editor: Tine Semb.

Recorded 9 May 2023. Duration: 38 min.

Damian Ajavon

Damien Ajavon (born 1990), is a non-binary, Afropean textile artist born in Paris with Senegalese and Togolese roots. They are based in Paris and their work focuses on exploring the various ways in which textile fibers can be manipulated by hand. Damien’s creative process is heavily influenced by the interaction between visual and tactile experiences. They use their African and Western influences to tell stories through textiles and as visual markers of their creative approaches. Damien’s work is driven by their desire to search for their identity, blackness, queerness, and their relationship to home, origin, and spirit. They have been unearthing and weaving connections with their ancestry through textile languages rather than oral ones.

Damien has acquired significant international exposure across Europe, Africa, and North America. During their travels, they have learned various skills such as hemp weaving, cashmere dyeing, feather work in Italy, digital knitting, Manjak traditional weaving, felting hats, and creating accessories in Quebec, Canada.

They have also gained expertise in pattern making and knitwear in New York, US. Damien’s artwork has been exhibited in several group exhibitions and artist residencies across North America, Europe, and Africa. Their work has even been included in the Oslo Municipality public collection. Damien’s practice is deeply rooted in their heritage, influenced by both African and Western cultures, as well as the queer community.

Their work with textiles is a tool to create culturally representative pieces, merging generations of African craftsmanship with their diasporic and transoceanic knowledge and experiences. Their work is a testament to their strong desire to merge cultures and create something new and beautiful.

Damien Ajavon is currently graduating from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO, MFA). There are several upcoming solo and group exhibitions, among them the Sparebankstiftelsen DNB’s Grant Exhibition 2023 and at Smack Mellon, New York, NY in June.

Liv Brissach

Liv Brissach (born 1991) is a freelance curator, writer and producer. They previously worked as a curator at MUNCH and as Project Officer at Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) where they coordinated OCA’s publications and was assistant curator for ‘The Sámi Pavilion’ exhibition at the Nordic Pavilion of the Biennale Arte 2022. As a writer, Brissach contributed texts for Munchmuseet on the Move, Kunstkritikk, Billedkunst, OCA, and Fotogalleriet.  

Kristin Lindberg

Kristin Lindberg (born 1950) is educated at the National Academy of Arts and Crafts (SHKS). She lives and works at the Søndre Green farm in Krødsherad, Buskerud. Anchoring her work in textile mediums such as weaving and embroidery, she blends traditional methods and techniques with contemporary art through installation, video and photography. Lindberg has exhibited her work at e.g. Kunsthuset Kabuso, Oppland/Buskerud Kunstsenter, Drammen Kunstforening, Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Kunstnerforbundet, Østlandsutstillingen, and Høstutstillingen. Her work can be found in the collections of the National Museum, Arts Council Norway, and Drammen’s Museum. She has also done several public commissions, among them for KORO — Public Art Norway, Krødsherad Municipality, the Danish-Norwegian Cooperation Foundation Lysebu, as well as several churches.

Since 2016, Lindberg has been establishing the artist’s residency center AiR Green at Søndre Green farm, primarily for artists working with textile. Over the years, she has also been politically engaged through several artists’ organizations, most recently as a director at Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond (BKV).

For Lindberg, social projects and activism merges through her life as well as her artistic practice. To create a platform for artists to evolve and grow — artistically, politically, as humans — has been not only a strong interest but a fundamental part of her work for more than half a decade. Besides, Lindberg belongs to a generation of feminist artists fighting for textile arts to be recognized and respected alongside painting within the contemporary arts.