THE V&A

Research Institute

Solveig Lønmo

Visiting Research Fellow / PhD Student, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Hannah Ryggen and the Politics of Textile

I am an art historian and curator from Trondheim, Norway. Specialising in the textile collection at the Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum since 2014, I have co-initiated and curated two editions of the Hannah Ryggen Triennial, a festival dedicated to the celebrated artist Hannah Ryggen’s (1894–1970) lifework through dialogue with contemporary artists’ practices. A PhD candidate since 2023, I am currently studying Ryggen’s tapestries on the entangled levels of materiality, process, and politics. At the V&A, I delve into Ryggen’s historical and international tapestry references, seeking to weave a broader picture of the art history she was indebted to.

The PhD is part of the research project MUTE (Museums and Textiles), a collaboration between NTNU, the Museums of South Trøndelag (MiST), and the University of Bergen. My supervisors are Ulla Angkjær Jørgensen (NTNU), Ingrid Lunnan (MiST) and Sigrun Åsebø (UiB). The Norwegian Research Council is generously funding the visiting research fellowship at the V&A from January to June 2025.

Selected exhibitions and publications

Lønmo, Solveig (ed.). (2022). Hannah Ryggen Triennial 2022: Anti-monument. Berlin: Archive Books. ISBN 9783948212872. Curator of the core three-part exhibition by the Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum.

Lønmo, Solveig. (2021) ‘Weaving Love and Terror: Hannah Ryggen’s We Are Living on a Star as Place, Crime Scene, and Memorial’. In Conversations Across Place: Reckoning with an Entangled World, edited by Nicola Brandt and Frances Whorrall-Campbell. Berlin: The Green Box. ISBN 9783962160074.

Lønmo, Solveig. (2021). Ta deg TID / Take your TIME. Trondheim: Museumsforlaget. ISBN 9788283051094. Curator of the exhibition at the Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum (2020).

Lønmo, Solveig. (2021). Curator of the exhibition Plissé: Anne-Karin Furunes at Stiftsgården, the Royal Residence in Trondheim, by the Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum.

Lønmo, Solveig. (2019). Hannah Ryggen Triennial 2019: New Land. Trondheim: Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum. Curator of the exhibition.