11/09/2026
We loved hosting ayeshe sadr and Ishaan Dasgupta at our studio this summer as they printed an artist book in collaboration with us. Here is a little bit about their time with us in their own words:
“Our residency in Norway was in collaboration with Halden bookworks. They hosted us and introduced us to the bookmaking and printing process.
The idea of the residency was to create an illustrated book inspired by the folktales of Norway and India.
The idyllic studio at Halden has been setup with the utmost love and care and organised in such great detail, that we never felt out of place or overwhelmed during our time there. Radha and Johan gave us a comprehensive introduction to the printing process, the use and cleaning of the printing machines, and a general orientation of their beautiful studio. We were then left to our own devices to explore, make our own mistakes and learn from them. The whole setup is extremely inspiring, giving one space to fully immerse and explore many different mediums and processes. Having the space and time to solely dedicate to a project was so refreshing for us.
Our project, which was meant to focus on themes of folklore, was still ambiguous at first, as we were unsure of what aspects of the vast library of themes and motifs to draw inspiration from.
But after the first week of orientation, forest walks and fjord explorations, the themes started to emerge. The recurring motif of the snake. The winding paths, the fjords, mossy barks, scales on the rooftops, and carvings on ancient Norse churches all pointed to the common motif of the snake. Taking inspiration from jormugandr and shesh naga we started to write our own short story which we have started to illustrate and wish to turn into a book.”
