Eivind Natvig

On paper Eivind H. Natvig was the epitome of the young, up-and-coming photojournalist; he spent years travelling all over the world. His photographs were revered far beyond the Norwegian borders. He photographed people making their mark on the landscape as well as being part of it –people at work and play, wealthy people, poor people. Over the years Natvig captured our species and our mark on the Earth in innumerable ways: triumphs and defeats, everyday life and celebrations. Until he lost his spark.

In January 2010, in a dormitory in Dhaka, Natvig felt overwhelmed by photo-fatigue, or perhaps an overexposure to images. His eyes had seen too much, and he lost his enthusiasm for taking pictures. What can one do to reignite the interest to keep working? Natvig started by making a series of images in Dhaka using the most primitive of all cameras: a pinhole camera (this series was later turned into a book in collaboration with poet Gro Dahle). Then he returned home.

Natvig´s images linger somewhere in-between the genres of documentary and fine art. The series Du Er Her No (You Are Here Now) depicts Norway in this realm, but through the eyes of both the person who left and the person who returned. He shows Norway as both an exotic and strange place, but at the same time somewhere mundane and trivial. The images have something both for the enthusiastic tourist and the native suffering from wanderlust. The images are full of juxtapositions – they refuse to make a stand or to take sides. But then again, it might not be a question of taking sides.

Natvig currently divides his time between working on long-term projects and a life in the mountains and on the ocean.