I never thought I’d find passion in Norway. to be honest, I had no idea what I would find here. I certainly didn’t envisage people with such passion for their jobs, for their relationships with other people, for everything they do. the few Norwegians I’ve met so far all struck me as people who knew exactly what they wanted to do, and did it, too. they seem happy and content. I find this fulfilling and inspiring.
let’s take the boat out, wait until darkness, Fever Ray singer says.
our guide in the Munch museum, an old lady who talks about Munch as if she had known him all her life- and maybe she has, infecting a room full of exchange students with her exuberant joy. laughing whole-heartedly at her own stories, about the ridiculousness of one situation or another, laughing at the memory of a group of bishops reacting to her interpretation of “the Madonna” in a similar way Munch’s contemporaries had reacted: with utter shock and hypocritical amazement at the way he had depicted a woman from the point of view of a man having intercourse with her (“pov” in pornspeak)- but not any woman, and not any man. she is not a prostitute, she’s not a common woman, she is not a maid or peasant. she is The Madonna, and she is incredibly sexy. erotic in a straightforward, self-determining and self-determined way, not complying to something but wanting it and doing it- the Norwegian passion manifesting itself once again. the man, he’s the viewer. he’s you. he’s me. we’re him. and we’re having sex with the Madonna. The Madonna, mind you.
at the moment of conception, when the sperm enters and you know, when a baby, a new life is formed, she is holy. she is sacred. and everybody is holy. we are all sacred, the Munch guide says. now I’m not so sure about the implications of this kind of statement on the beginning of a new life in the context of abortion discussions, and the exclusivity of the sacredness to that one exact moment, but I do like the conclusion very much: every life is sacred.
I want to learn more about this, I thought. I’ve always liked Munch, but she filled me with extraordinary inspiration. it made me want to study art- but I kind of felt that couldn’t really be the case, it was her passion that really caught me.
I want to be this passionate about something, I thought.
and then Mrs. Refugee and Asylum Law entered my life.