Ole Christian Solbakken

Shrouded in Darkness – connecting with a biographical subject

Kristiania University College/The Norwegian film school, Norway

This paper examines how to connect with a biographical subject when the source material on their life is scarce. The subject of my biographical drama is Emanuel Vigeland (1875-1947), a Norwegian artist who is mostly known for his own mausoleum, which is today a renowned museum in Oslo. The mausoleum is a big gesamtkunstwerk with an 800 square meters fresco painting called “Vita”, which means life. Emanuel´s life, as well as his mausoleum, is shrouded in darkness. But by spending time in the mausoleum your eyesight gets accustomed to being in the darkness, and you begin to see more and more of the big mural. Life, as Vigeland sees it, is a battle between death, sex, compassion, and violence. Was that how his own life was?

The sources I have found consist of facts – where he was born, when he married and had children, what kind of artwork he made, and so on. But what about the interior of his life? What was it like to be Emanuel? In my research I’m trying to connect to him by engaging in what he was doing – by making visual art. What kind of insights about him can I find while doing this? Is this a way to light up the darkness on his inner life/emotional world? It’s a way for me to communicate with him – trying to see what he was seeing, trying to explore his craft, and maybe get to connect with him both as an artist and as a human being with a story to tell.

This project is my Ph.D.-project and is part of a bigger research project about biographical drama.

Ole Christian Solbakken is a Ph. D. fellow at Kristiania University College and The Norwegian Film School. He has a bachelor’s degree in Scriptwriting from The Norwegian Film School. Solbakken is also a screenwriter, with credits including the animated film “Christmas on Cattle Hill”. He has done research on pre-words storytelling and has a background in film studies.