Nordlys

The Northern Lights are visible when particles from the sun interact with the magnetic field of the Earth, specifically oxygen and nitrogen atoms. They bounce towards the Earth’s magnetic poles and in the process release light that we see with our naked eye as green or pink (the higher up the particles hit, the more pink hues we see. Global warming impacts these green and pink wonders and are part of the reason we now see them in more southerly locations too – alongside the impact the movement and position of the sun has relative to the Earth; the closer the sun is to the magnetic field, and the stronger the solar activity, the more powerful lights (they run in 11-year cycles and peaking in 2025).

I grew up in Sarpsborg and lived there until I was 23, when I moved to England. I can recall no autumns or winters where the aurora borealis made its way to my part of the country. It was simply something they had further North and something I longed to see in person but never had the chance to. As I was researching the inspiration behind this piece in the collection, I found that increasingly since 2015 there have been more years with Northern lights in Sarpsborg or the wider region it sits in, Østfold, than there have been years without. This gives pause for reflection - how our actions shape our environment, how things change from year to year and decade to decade, and about the passage of time - and how we change alongside the environment we find ourselves in.