Photographic series of 44 trapping sculptures for grouse that was built into the landscape during a longer trapping expedition to Øvre Dividal National Park in the winter of 2021
At the beginning of the 20th century, 4 grouse was worth a day's wages for an ordinary worker. Few trappers had tasted the grouse themselves because it was so valuable. In our time, the grouse populations has declined sharply and daily quotas has been introduced many places.
In the winter of 2021, I lived for a longer time in a hunting cabin, in the mountains of Øvre Dividalen National Park in Troms County. Equipped with a knife, an ax and thin metal wire, I built 44 traps into the landscape with native materials. Grouse traps are made from birch branches that the wild chicks feed on in the wintertime, and they need to be site specific and blend into the landscape. The visual impression is much like bird wings stretching out from a portal in the middle, and this is the portal to eternity. I find the sculptural and metaphorical aspects fascinating. This is trapping architecture that has been used since the dawn of ages to sustain life and make an important extra income for people in rural areas of the North.
