Artwork "Loam Margaret"

«Loam Margaret»

Sculpture, mixed media
Materials: Polymer clay, purified soil, raw sheep's wool, linen, rope, tulleand aluminium
Artist: Jane Sverdrupsen, PhD candidate at the University of Bergen
Year: 2025

The artwork "Loam Margaret" is introduced from its hiding place to an unsuspecting crew on board the reconstructed sailing ship S/S Restauration on the Atlantic Ocean on September 2, 2025.
The ship departed from Stavanger on 4 July 2025 and arrives in New York on 9 October 2025. The voyage recreates the original ship's historical journey and is part of the "Crossings200" anniversary, which marks the two hundred years since the organized emigration from Norway to North America began.

Background for the artproject

The emigration from Norway to North America is an important part of Norwegian history. It has left a lasting mark on the countries, especially local communities along the Norwegian coast and several areas in North America. Furthermore, the emigration is part of a global-historical context that affects how the world looks today; a world order characterized by colonial history and control over resources that still causes people to migrate in the hope of establishing a better life elsewhere.

When the original sailing ship S/S Restauration made its famous voyage 200 years ago, it initiated an emigration from Norway to North America that would last for about 100 years. More than 800,000 individuals, about a third of the Norwegian population, emigrated to North America.

Margaret Allen was born on board on September 2, 1825, somewhere out on the Atlantic Ocean. Her parents were Martha Georgiana and Lars Larsen Geilane, who organized this first crossing. Giving birth on board a packed ship, with over fifty other people on board, underlines the strong will to go. The little girl survived and lived to be 91 years old.

About the artwork "Loam Margaret"

The circumstances surrounding Margaret Allen's birth are central to the art project, where her presence is 'recreated' on the voyage. On the date of her birth, skipper Kjell-Morten Ronæs presents the artwork for the first time to the crew of S/S Restauration, where she will be part of the travel party until arrival in New York in October.

The sculpture "Loam Margaret" is partly an artistic interpretation of what Margaret Allen may have looked like as a newborn baby, but it is first and foremost a physical and metaphorical container for her homeland, by virtue of the materials used in the artwork. The materials represent parts of Norwegian history, from pre-industrial times with agriculture and animal husbandry to modern times with the petroleum industry and aluminium production. The central material in the sculpture is nevertheless the soil, which is central to the survival of all people. Access to arable land was an important reason why migration started 200 years ago.

Soil from Sandnes, one of the municipalities in the region of Jæren in Rogaland, can be found in the sculpture's head and is also the content that fills the sculpture's belly. At Jæren there is irreplaceable topsoil of high quality, with a composition of sand, clay and humus that is ideal for growing food. This is called 'loam soil'. It has similarities to the soil near Kendall; the place where the first Norwegian immigrants settled after leaving Rogaland. In our time, the topsoil in Jæren is gradually developed, where homes and commercial buildings slowly take over, at the same time as the country's topsoil becomes more important from an emergency preparedness perspective.

The sculpture's arms, legs and back are made of raw, untreated wool from sheep. Sheep farming is and has been an important form of animal husbandry in Norway and can be dated back to the Stone Age. Rogaland is the county with the most sheep in Norway today, with Stavanger as the municipality with the most sheep.

The combined smell of soil and wool is noticeable when "Loam Margaret" is held.
The sculpture therefore carries with it a scent of Jæren. The valuable soil gradually erodes out through a transparent, tulle-covered opening on the stomach. The sculpture's soft, vivid facial features are characterised by the particles and greyish pigments of the soil it contains.

The impermanence of life lies implicitly in the soil, where physical life is sustained and ends in the material itself. What transcends this ephemerality of life are collective histories. "Loam Margaret" helps to keep alive the story of Margaret Allen and the other emigrants aboard the ship S/S Restauration, who sought their fortune on foreign soil exactly 200 years ago.

About the PhD project

Artworks about Margaret Allen is part of Jane Sverdrupsen's PhD project at the Art Academy – Department of Contemporary Art at the University of Bergen. The project investigates artistic methods in dialogue with sites, where the site functions both as a material and a conceptual framework. A key aspect of the artistic research is the artist's ability to engage with and reflect upon a site and its narratives through the artistic presence. Another aspect is the potential that lies in the meeting between people and artworks when the artwork appears as an integral part of a given context.

Sverdrupsen uses a combination of different media and techniques in the doctoral project, where drawing, photography, sculpture and artificial intelligence are used to create works of art. Thematically, she examines sites and contexts associated with coastal culture in Western Norway.

About Jane Sverdrupsen

Jane Sverdrupsen (b. 1979) is a visual artist and curator based in Bergen. She has a bachelor's degree (2010) and a master's degree (2013) in fine art from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design, now part of the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design at the University of Bergen (KMD). She is currently pursuing a PhD in artistic research at KMD (2024–2028) with a focus on the role of the artist and curator in dialogue with sites.

Sverdrupsen has previously been the general manager of Kunstgarasjen (2023–2024) and the general manager of Rogaland Kunstsenter (2020–2023). Prior to these roles, she worked in several positions at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design/Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, UiB (2013–2020).

Her use of methods, techniques, and materials is diverse and determined by the concept of each art project. An interest in how the perceived reality is shaped by the complexity of one's own time; characterized by current knowledge, and cultural and societal structures, drives her work.

Her artwork has been exhibited in Norway, Ireland, Australia, Portugal, Iceland, North America, China, Germany and the United Kingdom. Examples of curatorial work include co-curating the Stavanger Art Museum's exhibition "From the Balcony" in 2020, and the site-specific exhibition "Ultimo Scenario" which was held in the former children's clinic at Haukeland University Hospital before it was demolished in 2017. She curated the group exhibition "Outbreak 2020-2021" at Rogaland Kunstsenter in 2021, which dealt with the societal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Sverdrupsen curated "Intimated Structures" in the Dominican National gallery; the Norwegian part of the very first exhibition exchange between Norway and the Dominican Republic.

Sources:

Restauration Friends Association https://www.restauration.no/en/skutens-historie/historie
The County Governor https://www.statsforvalteren.no/rogaland/landbruk-og-mat/husdyr/vestsida-av-langfjella-dominerer-produksjonen-av-lam/#:~:text=Sau%20og%20lam%20p%C3%A5%20Rennes%C3%B8y,meir%20enn%20eitt%20%C3%A5r%20gammalt

Store Norske leksikon https://snl.no/Utvandringa_fr%C3%A5_Noreg_til_Nord-Amerika
Store Norske leksikon https://snl.no/Cleng_Peerson

Forskning.no https://www.forskning.no/historie-usa/pa-et-tidspunkt-bodde-en-fjerdedel-av-alle-nordmenn-i-usa-sluppefolket-var-begynnelsen-pa-masseutvandringen/2287597

The National Archives https://www.arkivverket.no/kom-i-gang-med-arkiv/migrasjonsaret-2025/restauration#!#block-body-0

NRK https://www.nrk.no/rogaland/regjeringa-vil-ha-strengare-jordvernmal-1.16410222‍

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