Siri Hermansen (b. 1969, Geneva, Switzerland) is a filmmaker, photographer, and installation artist who lives and works in Oslo, Norway. Through her practice, she investigates unforeseen affects in societies undergoing profound economic, environmental or cultural changes, offering unusual micro-perspectives on contemporary methods of survival and processes of adaptation. Her research resembles a form of shared anthropology dependent on interrelations created on location and her personal experience of place. Siri Hermansen is Professor and Head of the Master’s programme, Art and Public Space at The National Academy of the Arts in Oslo, where she also completed her doctorate in 2016. She holds an MFA from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and a BFA from Parsons School of Design.
Islands of Memories, 2018
Siri Hermansen’s film investigates how the memories and traumas of the Second World War have been transferred and received by the third-generation descendants of families in Germany. It offers an insight into the human processes of adaptation, where negotiation mechanisms enter into force for each descendant. Through conversations with cultural historian Georg Habermehl, psychiatric nurse Martin Jansen, and professor of social sciences Claudia Lenz, the participants reveal different strategies and methods of understanding their family and the history of Nazism, exploring how individual family histories relate to public narratives.
Financial support from:
Bergesen Stiftelsen
Fritt Ord
Norsk Kulturråd
Vederlagsfondet
Bavarian Ministry of Culture and Science, Munchen
Images:
An installation image from Siri Hermansen’s Island of Memories, 2018. Courtesy of the practicioner.
A still image from Siri Hermansen’s Island of Memories, 2018. Courtesy of the practicioner.
A still image from Siri Hermansen’s Island of Memories, 2018. Courtesy of the practicioner.
A still image from Siri Hermansen’s Island of Memories, 2018. Courtesy of the practicioner.
