Fatou Åsbakk

Fatou Åsbakk is an artist who will take part in a filmprogram called Weeds and Aliens, curated by Ida Lykken Ghosh at AMIFF 2023

Fatou Åsbakk was born in 1984 and lives in Oslo. She has a master's degree in visual arts from the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts. Fatou works with text, video and installation, and has been exhibited at, among others, Destiny's Atelier, Kunstnernes hus cinema and Kunsthall Oslo. In 2020, she made her literary debut with the novel Været og uvirksomheten at Kolon forlag.

In the film : «Acting out fourteen in front of an audience, to be able to fully appreciate soon becoming forty a.k.a. finished researching and start life 4real, according to Jung» artist Fatou Åsbakk films herself in the bathroom mirror with an iPhone. In a few minutes – and with Michael Jackson’s “Man in The Mirror” as background music – she straightens her hair, puts on blue contact lenses, and dons a t-shirt with the inscription “It’s always been you”.

By staging herself as a compliant teenager in a humorous way in adulthood, Åsbakk makes us aware of how the need to fit in can change with time. During their teenage years, many people of mixed race are made extra aware that they look different, or that they have different traditions than the majority of the population at home, and thus they often make a great effort to fit in. As an adult on the other hand, you often want to be perceived as independent and confident, able to make your own decisions