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Projects Getting lost in Venice
An auto-anthropological road movie  One of my favourite books as a child was, “Maria and katten I Venezia” (Maria and her cat in Venice). It was written by the Norwegian author Marie Takvam and had drawings from Venice by Ulf Aas. The book was first published in 1960 when I was five years old. Similar in age to mine, Maria decided to follow a tourist family of three – whom lived in with them for the summer – around the town without permission from her father and grandmother. Eventually, she got lost in this labyrinthic town that dates back to the 5th Century. Built on 118 islands, the 400 bridges connecting them lead into narrow alleys and mysterious passages. When I travelled to Venice for the first time in February 1982 (before the carnival turns the town on its head every year), I was overtaken by the magic of a town engulfed in winter fog. Finally finding myself in Maria’s Venice, I was crisscrossing the town for several days on end without feeling tired. I had hoped to experience this feeling again on more recent visits to Venice – to no avail. Rather, the “chase” for the magical feeling informed my stays – a chase that I imagine I share with the close to 6 million tourists that visit Venice annually. However, their mere numbers destroy the magic (even when trying to avoid the crowds in the early morning). And I too got lost. In Maria’s case her cat found her, and after a sleep-over together under an empty tomato crate in a gondola, they happened to come across some nice people who helped them home. In my case, google map did not help that much when I could not figure out the cardinal points. See this experimental film on YouTube. Speaking the unspeakable
In the aftermath of weaponized rape in Tigray, North-Ethiopia
As a weapon of war, thousands of girls and women, as well as some boys and men, were sexually abused during the war in Tigray (2020-22). The perpetrators were soldiers from the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), Amhara Special Forces, Fano militia and Eritrea. The fact that a majority of the region’s health centers and other essential infra-structure had been looted and destroyed during the first months of war, further exacerbated the situation for rape survivors. On top of physical and psychological health issues not attended to, the social stigma related to rape has led many survivors to carry their trauma in silence. See this documentary film on Vimeo. Artist book: (In)decisive moments Self-portraits before and beyond the selfie
In this artist book with self-portraits that span four decades, it is the connection between state of mind and what actually emerges in the final photograph which is at stake. Because, if it is true, which we commonly continue to believe, that a photograph can catch a person’s “soul”, what does it look like? Is the soul also “visible” in unflattering images? In an attempt to be mercilessly honest, this book is therefore a comment on the current selfie-trend where the representing of oneself as fashionable and beautiful, in order to receive as many “likes” as possible, is the intention. These inward-looking images are also placed in the context of what has happened in the world over these past four decades.
Limited edition: 200 numbered and signed copies (202 pages). NOK 699,- + postage. Available from Tekstallmenningen. Mothers & Daughters Four photographs purchased by the National Museum, Norway
The aim of this project is to describe some of the unspoken tensions that might exist between a mother and her daughter. Asking actual mothers and daughters to pose side-by-side, further instructions as to how was not provided. This photographic situation creates an atmosphere of uncertainty where tensions surface. Their facial expressions and body-language tell about likenesses and differences, intimicy and opposition as aspects of this complex family relation. I do not however claim to reveal some sort of truth about a particular mother-daughter relation. First of all I want to challenge an ideal image of the mother and daughter as it is produced and reaffirmed in photographs, by enhancing rather than glossing over potential conflicts. More... The Music that Makes Wonders
This short documentary is about three “embilta” players in Asgede Tsimbla Wereda, north-western Tigray, North-Ethiopia. Since the film was shot in 2019, these three men have also become representatives for the Tigrayan people and culture that the Ethiopian Nobel Peace Prize winning prime minister Abiy Ahmed, with military help from Eritrea and regional militia groups, wants to wipe out with bullets, sexual violence and hunger. The documentary can be seen on YouTube with English sub-titles. No going back! Anti-FGM activism in Singida region, Tanzania
This documentary is about the community activism that the independent women’s organization SIAC, together with its sister organization DIAC, has initiated in Tanzania against female genital mutilation (FGM). In the film, Tanzanian-Norwegian Chiku Ali takes us around in Singida, where she is born, to meet some of those who have taken it upon themselves to eradicate FGM: elders, ex-circumcisers, anti-FGM activists, village and district leaders, health personnel, religious leaders and youth club members. See the film on YouTube texted in English, Norwegian or Swahili. Moments of Communication: Learning Science Diplomacy This documentary gives a glimpse into the second week of Bergen Summer Research School 2019 that under the leadership of Professor Edvard Hviding, was dedicated to a series of plenary auditorium sessions devoted to “science diplomacy”. The aim of these sessions was to explore connections between research and the diplomatic and political efforts required to fulfil the 2030 Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. See the documentary on Vimeo. All the four plenary sessions are also available here. A short film about water About taking clean water for granted in the affluent world. See the film on YouTube.
Dialogues about abortion
In Ethiopia, abortion is allowed in the case of: 1) Incest or rape, 2) If continuation of the pregnancy is dangerous for the woman's or the fetus’ health, 3) If the fetus has a deformity, and 4) If the woman has a physical or psychological problem (including if she is under the age of 18). The following 11 dialogues took place in villages and rural towns of north-western Tigray after screenings of the four-part edutainment drama, CHOICES & CONSEQUENCES, where "Solyana" fell unwanted pregnant.
See this research documentary on YouTube. Participants
This is a documentary about some of the youth who took part in the edutainment drama CHOICES & CONSEQUENCES, part 1-4 on youth sexual and reproductive health. We get their reflections on what they have learned from participating in the project and what they think the dramas can teach other youth. Going back to their home places in villages and rural towns in north-western Tigray, they also asked their parents and relatives what they thought about their participation in the project.
See this documentary where the youth who had got basic film training in the project, were also part of the film team, on YouTube. Masho's monologue Masho Asenaw was one of the main actors in the edutainment drama CHOICES & CONSEQUENCES, part 1-4. She was also one of the most promising actor talents in the project. But she worries about the prospect of becoming a professional actor in the current economic situation in Tigray, North-Ethiopia. Her family also tries their best to discourage her from pursuing this career path.
See her monologue on YouTube. Love Complications An edutainment drama about youth sexual and reproductive health
By Shewit Goytom, Dejen Fisseha, Helen Girmay, Mekonnen Goytom, Masho Azenaw, Merhawit Teshome, Bethelhem Haileselassie, Tedros Guesh, Tewelde Negassie and Tekleweyni Berhe. This film that Tigrayan youth have scripted themselves, is part of Thera Mjaaland's research in the NRC-funded SAFEZT-project, "Competing discourses impacting girls’ and women’s rights: Fertility control and safe abortion in Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania". See the Tigrinya or English versions on Youtube. Choices & Consequences
An edutainment drama about youth sexual and reproductive health: Part 3 & 4
These final 2 parts of this edutainment drama produced in north-western Tigray, North-Ethiopia, aim as well to initiate discussion on youth sexual and reproductive health in the case of contraceptive use and abortion. The drama addresses gender norms that influence youth sexuality in a context where reproductive options, in the case of different contraceptive methods and safe abortion services, are in fact legally available for them. It also asks if other options for being a responsible man are thinkable. See the Tigrinya or English versions on Youtube.
Choices & Consequences An edutainment drama about youth sexual and reproductive health: Part 2
This edutainment drama, produced in north-western Tigray, North-Ethiopia, aims to initiate discussion on youth sexual and reproductive health in the case of contraceptive use and abortion. The drama addresses gender norms that influence youth sexuality in a context where reproductive options, in the case of different contraceptive methods and safe abortion services, are in fact legally available for them. It also asks if other options for being a responsible man are thinkable.
See the Tigrinya or English versions on Youtube. Choices & Consequences An edutainment drama about youth sexual and reproductive health: Part 1
Produced in north-western Tigray, North-Ethiopia, this edutainment drama aims to initiate discussion among youth, parents, teachers, and other community members on youth sexual and reproductive health in the case of contraceptive use and abortion. The drama addresses gender norms that influence youth sexuality in a context where reproductive options are in fact legally available for them. Knowledge about these options is low, however, and the silence around youth sexual and reproductive health issues prevails.
See the Tigrinya or English versions on YouTube.
Three days of freedom
Women’s Ashenda celebration in Mekelle Tigray, North-Ethiopia
Ashenda is an age-old women’s culture that was in the process of disappearing. Originally celebrated in highland Ethiopia and Eritrea in August every year, this documentary tells the story about one particular attempt to revive this culture in the regional capital of Tigray, Mekelle. The film is a collaboration between the Mekelle-based filmmaker Tewodros Hailemikael and the Norwegian visual anthropologist Thera Mjaaland. It was shot during the Ashenda celebration in Mekelle, August 2017.
See it on YouTube. Fighting for fitness This short documentary about the British Military Fitness instructor Aaron Downes and one of the participants on his fitness trainings, Zoe Crick, was made together with Anna Webster as a student work on a 2-weeks course in ethnographic documentary at Grenada Centre for Visual Anthropology, Manchester University, June 2017.
Available from my YouTube channel. At the frontiers of change A research documentary on girls' education in north-western Tigray, Ethiopia
Girls have started to outnumber boys both in primary and secondary education, not only in the small market town of Endabaguna, but in Tigray region in North-Ethiopia in general. But despite the legal marriage age for both boys and girls now being 18, rural Tigrayan girls who want to continue to secondary school in urban areas are still faced with the challenge of underage marriage. This documentary film communicates some of the main findings from my doctoral research to a broader public than the academic. A Tigrigna version was made for screening in the research participants’ communities.
A presentation of the film can be found on the University of Bergen website (in Norwegian). See the Tigrinya or English versions on YouTube. Encounters, Tigray
Photographs from Ethiopia in Western mass media have a tendency to represent famine and war only. When I was about to leave for my first trip to the region in 1993, my cousin asked me: – Are you going to Ethiopia to photograph starving children? His question has stayed with me since, and have urged me to tell other stories about a people I admire for their strength and resilience. These particular photographs are from Asgede Tsimbla Wereda in north-western Tigray, North-Ethiopia, a region which no doubt has been hit hard by precisely recurring famines and wars. However, as much as I had imagined this project in advance, the people I met had their own ideas about how to be represented that eventually shaped these images. The Tigrayan landscape at hand served as a convenient "studio" backdrop for their self-(re)presentations. More...
Publication: Houses/Homes The house of my childhood was built in 1690. It was spooky at night with its creaking body and three hundred years of history. During daytime freedom was outdoors: in the woods, by the little pond, by the lake or in the woodshed. We played mother, father and children, and made homes from whatever was available: a tarpaulin, a length of rope and some branches. Perhaps we played as we wanted life to be, or to become? I do not remember. Memories are as selective as photographs; they are products of choice, dependent on a specific occurrence in a given moment. More...
My father's house I know that you want to forget.
I want you to remember that weakness can also have a value.
Maybe it is then that we can truly meet –
when our eyes rest in what is
enduring its own pain. More... See archive for more... | 
