For centuries, many stories of ground-breaking women scientists, explorers, artists and the like have been overlooked. In Tromsø, Norway, there is not a single sculpture portraying a known woman. In 2018 I initiated WOW – Walls of Women Tromsø, a project dedicated to telling their stories by making their murals.
Wanny Woldstad
Together with graphic designer at Tank Design Christopher Ide, and architect Berit Steenstrup, we created the first mural of Wanny Woldstad at Nordre Tollbodgate 3 in Tromsø in August 2018.
Wanny Woldstad (1895-1959) was the first female trapper on Spitsbergen and also the first female taxi driver in Tromsø. On top of that she was a writer, a matron (managing several households) and a truly elegant woman. The design is made by Christopher Ide and is inspired by Wanny Woldstad’s complexity.
Together with graphic designer at Tank Design Christopher Ide, and architect Berit Steenstrup, we created the first mural of Wanny Woldstad at Nordre Tollbodgate 3 in Tromsø in August 2018.
Wanny Woldstad (1895-1959) was the first female trapper on Spitsbergen and also the first female taxi driver in Tromsø. On top of that she was a writer, a matron (managing several households) and a truly elegant woman. The design is made by Christopher Ide and is inspired by Wanny Woldstad’s complexity.
Betzy Akersloot-Berg
After making the first mural WOW Tromsø was approached by Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, who at the time were planning a retrospective exhibition featuring the works of Norwegian marine painter Betzy Akersloot-Berg. Betzy Akersloot-Berg became the subject for a design created by fine artist Elind Rui Blix in 2019.
Elind based her design on two of Betzy Akersloot-Berg-Bergs landscape paintings. The mural was painted in Perspektivet Museums Folkeparken in Tromsø by Elind Rui Blix, architect Sara Lund, graphic designer Siri W. Jachlin, artist André Enger Aas and project manager from Perspektivet Museum Hedvig Ølmheim.
The 2019 WOW project was done in close collaboration with Perspektivet Museum.
You can follow WOW Tromsø on Instagram and Facebook.
The project was made with support from Tromsø kommune.
