About Lene Marie Fossen

[18.08.1986 - 22.10.2019]

Lene Marie Fossen was an autodidact Norwegian photographer. She rejected the linear progression of time that forced her to go through puberty and stopped eating at the tender age of 10. She struggled with anorexia for the rest of her life. Fossen chose to be open about her disease and found her means of expression in photography.

She is best known for her revealing self-portraits, captured in an abandoned lepra hospital in Chios, Greece. Fossen was a master of composition, colour and light, and her soulful portraits of victims of the refugee crisis on the island of Chios in Greece also bear witness of a unique photographer. ‘My photographs are not about Anorexia’ she said, ‘they are about human suffering.’

The documentary film Self-portrait featuring Lene Marie Fossen, produced by Margreth Olin, Katja Høgseth, and Espen Wallin, was released in 2020, a few months after Fossen had passed away. Self-portrait is a film about the power of art, but it also raises important questions about what treatment one who suffers from severe anorexia needs.

The travelling exhibition ‘Gatekeeper’ with the book published by Kehrer Verlag premiered in 2020 and was presented in several galleries and festivals in Norway. Gatekeeper was presented at Helgeland Museum and Auckland Festival of Photography in 2021 and as a solo exhibition at Open Art Museum in St. Gallen, Switzerland from 2022-23.

Upcoming exhibitions include a solo exhibition organized by Nordic Light in Kristiansund opening in May and participation in a group exhibition at Lëtzebuerg City Museum (Luxembourg).

Previous exhibitions

2011 Soloshow - Melke fabrikken - Toten - Norway

2011 Soloshow - Chios Citrus - Chios - Greece

2012 Soloshow - Galleri Fenka - Levanger - Norway

2016 Soloshow - Kaire Gallerii - Tønsberg - Norway

2017 Soloshow - Melancholia - Nordic Light - Kristiansund - Norway

2020 Söloshow - The Gatekeeper - WILLAS contemporary/ Shoot Gallery - Oslo - Norway

2020 Soloshow - The Gatekeeper - Stiklestad Nasjonale Senter - Verdal - Norway

2020 Soloshow - The Gatekeeper - Raufoss Gård - Raufoss - Norway

2021 Soloshow - The Gatekeeper - Helgeland Museum - Mosjöen - Norway

2021 Soloshow - The Gatekeeper - Auckland Festival of Photography- New Zealand

2022 Soloshow - The Gatekeeper - Open Art Museum - St. Gallen Switzerland

2022 Groupshow - There is More - Grotten Oslo - Norway

Upcoming exhibitions

2023 Soloshow - Melancholia 2.0 - Nordic Light - Kristiansund - Norway

2023 Groupshow - Lëtzebuerg City Museum (Luxembourg).