Oline Nordengaard

In THERE IS A KNOT IN MY HAIR AND IT IS NOT MINE, you stand in front of a projection of a fixed scene in my bathroom. In it, I brush my hair over and over again. The work places the viewer in the position of an observer of a private process.

Starting from my own experience, I look at how patriarchal structures and values continue to be projected onto women’s lives. This has shaped how I relate to my emotions, body, and sexuality, alongside feelings of shame and disconnection. As I return to memories that have stayed with me, I start to see how they connect to these social structures.

Through repetition, I turn the everyday act of brushing my hair into a ritual of shedding, undoing, and working through internalized ideas and expectations. It becomes a way of renegotiating my relationship to them.

The installation presents an abstracted reconstruction of a bathroom, bringing this private moment into a public setting.

Inside the installation are text works made of fragmented memories printed on mirrored surfaces, alongside a publication containing elements of my workbook and my visual and emotional research.