Author: Akari

We are happy to present Safemuse’s newest staff members: Tiril Ellingsen Thue and Heidi Marie Kriznik. Tiril has been involved with Safemuse since last fall, but begun working full-time in January 2024, whilst Heidi Marie joined the Safemuse-team in February 2024.

Tiril Ellingsen Thue is a human geographer with broad international experience. She holds an MA from the University of Oslo. In addition, she has lived and studied in Russia and Serbia and has a background from humanitarian organisations, voluntary work and doing research on issues of extremism and minority rights, particularly in the Balkans. 

What does artistic freedom mean to you? 

Art gives us the opportunity to experience, interpret and question the way we see the world. This is a privilege and a right that I think should be the foundation of any open and free society, one that we unfortunately increasingly see is under threat. Artistic freedom is about defending and strengthening a diversity of voices and forms of expression for artists and societies. I am very excited to join Safemuse and to be a part of the incredibly important work that they do, working in solidarity with and advocating for artists at risk, for the creation of art and for the promotion of human rights and freedom of artistic expression.

Heidi Marie Kriznik has a background as a Norwegian fiction writer, essayist, and columnist. She made her debut in 2002 with the novel Applause, for which she received the Tarjei Vesaas debutant award. The first novel is about a Polish man who comes to Norway. All her novels reflect immigration and the experience of outsiders. Her non-fiction book Den delte byen/The divided City deals with the differences in living conditions in the city of Oslo. She has held several writing courses and workshops for children, young people, and adults. She has held lectures and participated in several panel discussions.

For the past six years, she has been Head of the Norwegian Authors’ Union. She has also been a part of the Norwegian Authors’ Union international committee. Heidi Marie has been active in the Artists’ Network in Norway and has also worked politically for better living conditions in Oslo, and for equal access to benefits. Heidi Marie has a bachelor’s degree in social studies and has also worked as a social worker.

What does artistic freedom mean to you?

I will answer that question by referring to the author John Berger, he writes in the essay Miners in the book Keeping a rendezvous: “I can´t tell you what art does and how it does it, but I know that often art has judged the judges, pleaded revenge to the innocent and shown to the future what the past suffered, so that it has never been forgotten. I know too that the powerful fear art, whatever its form, when it does this, and amongst the people such art sometimes runs like a rumour and legend because it makes sense of what life´s brutalities cannot, a sense that unite us, for it is inseparable from justice at last.”

I think there is a reason why artistic expressions have, and should have, special protection. It is therefore also so important that Norway understands its obligations towards the article of the UNESCO Convention 16, which emphasises that artists and cultural workers must be given preferential rights when granting visas.

Art and culture are a social infrastructure that ensures that people meet and interact, but for art to be able to unite us, it must be free and including, representative and diverse.

As we know, many artists do not have the opportunity to freely express themselves through art. Safemuse is an important organization, and I look forward to work together with the Safemuse team, to facilitate residencies in Norway for endangered and persecuted artists from all over the world, and to push the agenda of human rights and artistic freedom. And of course, I look forward to meeting the artists-in-residence and experience their art.