Christine Hansen took part in a residency on the island of Utsira in the autumn of 2020. During her stay, she started snorkeling in the water around the island. These underwater excursions manifested themselves in artworks created in a variety of media including photography, video, watercolor, cyanotype and text. These snorkeling trips have increased since then, and are first-hand explorations of the sea in the artist's own local environment. The observations of the sea are central to the artworks presented in this exhibition. The photographs Tare, Tare med rødalge, and Tang og Martaum are sensory observations captured with a camera below the water's surface. These images give the viewer an insight into her personal experience of this specific environment, which is also the starting point for further processing in the watercolors  Sjøplanter and Blekksprut,and the cyanotypes. The project reminds us that we humans are also part of this "invisible" underwater world, as in the cyanotype of a diving mask from the series Blå, and the video Nedsenket Natur.

From the catalouge 

The exhibition As Below, So Above slips viewers below the water’s surface into a sensorial “otherworld.” The title is a take on the mythical phrase, “As above, so below, as within, so without,” and serves as an entry into the life and mystery of the ocean that reflects the nature of the cosmos and the hidden parts of human consciousness.

Curator: Heather Jones and Astrid Helen Windingstad
Artists: Samuel Brzeski, Ragna Misvær Grønstad, Christine Hansen, Andreas Siqueland, Jessica Warboys and Swoon (Caledonia Curry)