In 2019 Norwegian photographer Inger-Maren Slagsvold and visual artist Lucia Aragón visited Minnesota, Iowa and Washington state to interview and photograph 40 descendants of Norwegian immigrants. The interviews were conducted in the participants’ own homes. The participants were asked to choose one single object that they felt represented their ethnic identity. After having photographed both participants and their objects, Slagsvold and Aragón interviewed the participants about their personal relationship to the chosen object and the interpretation of their ethnic origin. The photographs and excerpts from these interviews make up the exhibition, Signs of Origin, first on view at the Anno Museum — Norwegian Emigrant Museum in 2020.
Signs of Origins has been planned in conjunction with the 2025 jubilee commemorates the bicentennial of the first organized emigration from Norway to America. In 1825, the Restauration sailed from Stavanger, Norway, to New York with 52 Norwegian emigrants on board.
Emigration and immigration still take place. Whereas Norwegians previously emigrated to America and elsewhere in search of a better life, others now immigrate to Norway to find freedom, security, and new opportunities.
