Doctoral Research Fellow and artist Miriam Sentler combines mythology, collective memory, and the histories of various energy industries in her large-scale tapestries. In this interview, Eva Pritchard explores Miriam's choice of weaving as a medium and how her artworks reflect the different layers of energy narratives and myths.
In Norse literature, Tyrving is the name of a cursed sword. It's also the name of an oil field in the North Sea. In this blog post, TOIL member Reinhard Hennig questions whether the curse of Tyrving has returned, only this time against oil companies. This follows a recent ruling by the Norwegian Supreme Court on April 11th, in which environmental organisations secured a victory in a climate lawsuit.
In October 2024, Doctoral Research Fellow Margrete Hestenes went to the non-profit art space Kunsthall Oslo to visit Norwegian artist Lars Holdhus’ solo exhibition Where Oil is First Found is the Minds of Men. In this blog post, Hestenes reflects on the exhibition’s expression of petro-masculinity.
In this blog post, Doctoral Research Fellow Miriam Sentler shares some diary entries she made during her research trip to the Shetland Isles in January 2024. By documenting diverse experiences with the oil industry's presence in a diary format, Sentler provides her reader with fresh insights into the extent to which the industry has made its mark on the Shetland Islands' community and heritage.
In January 2024, Miriam Sentler, one of TOIL’s Doctoral Research Fellows, travelled to Shetland to learn more about its oil industry. In this conversation, Eva Pritchard asks Sentler why she decided to research oil in the Shetland Islands specifically, and how the islands’ Viking-inspired Up Helly Aa festival presents fascinating connections with local energy industries. By focusing on Shetland's creative community, Sentler uncovers new insights into how myth and oil frequently intertwine in the Shetland Isles, both historically and today.
