M HKA Ensembles

° 1985

Lives in Bergen (NO).

Tonje Bøe Birkeland received an MFA from Bergen Academy of Art & Design. Through her long-term project The Characters she gives women a position within landscape while exploring the authenticity of history. On expeditions, female explorers are staged in Unknown Territory. While the romantic motives of the male wanderer have been well-documented, in Birkeland’s project, the characters are female. With The Characters, Birkeland has been awarded The Victor Fellowship by the Hasselblad Foundation (2012), silver in the Norwegian book design contest Årets Vakreste Bøker (2017), and presented in the Norwegian Journal of Photography, Fritt Ord, Oslo (2017) and Girl on Girl – Art & Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze, by Charlotte Jansen, Laurence King Publishing, London (2017).

Selected exhibitions include: For a gentle song would not shake us if we had never heard a loud one, Fotogalleriet, Oslo (2016) / Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen (2018), #ME, Preus Museum, Horten (2016),  Inner & Outer Landscapes, Centrum för Fotografi, Stockholm (2015) / Bergen Kjøtt, Bergen (2015) / Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen (2014), Character # IV Anna Aurora Astrup, Fotogalleriet Format, Malmö (2015) / Copenhagen Photo Festival, Copenhagen (2015), Darkness & Light, Scandinavian House, New York (2014), Character # III Luelle Magdalon Lumière, NOoSPHERE, New York (2014), Typer og Arketyper (Types & Archetypes) featuring Cindy Sherman, Vibeke Tandberg, Cajsa von Zeipel and Tonje Bøe Birkeland, Galleri F15, Moss (2013), New Nordic Photography, Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg (2012) and Open Studios, ISCP, NYC (2012).