Martha Labansen was recently the main character at the town hall in Roskilde.
Roskilde Municipality’s Art Association had invited her to exhibit her artwork, and on that occasion there was a vernissage of 16 carefully selected pictures from Greenland.
Martha Labansen was recently the main character at the town hall in Roskilde.
Roskilde Municipality’s Art Association had invited her to exhibit her artwork, and on that occasion there was a vernissage of 16 carefully selected pictures from Greenland.
The exhibition marked Roskilde’s 60-year friendship with Nanortalik.
It was the first time that the art association invited a Greenlandic artist to exhibit since it started in 2012.
The humble Martha Labansen draws on it a bit when we title her as an artist.
She sees herself first and foremost as a Greenlander and as a civil servant who has had a great impact on Greenland’s modern development on many different levels.
She is clearly not used to being called an artist. She doesn’t think she’s an artist, but the world around, who sees and enjoys her pictures, thinks so, and so does the art association in Roskilde.
Pictures with a story
The pictures, which are now on display until the end of October, are of landscapes in Greenland, which for one reason or another have a particularly great significance for Martha Labansen.
They show another side of Martha Labansen that we are not used to. They show her joy for nature and life with nature in Greenland.
The landscapes are interpreted by Martha Labansen both in design and the choice of colours. She likes to use strong colors to emphasize her impressions and what she thinks is important.
During the premiere, she spoke about the relationship between Denmark and Greenland, and she took the interested audience around and told them about each individual picture.
With each and every picture, therefore, came a personal story.
She told about herself and her own efforts in Greenland and all the places where she has had an influence on the development of society.
Sold five pictures
She talked about her personal experiences in the places she describes. She told about hunting experiences, about fishing for trout and about places where she gathered supplies for the winter.
A few pictures show the islands off Nuuk where she was fishing for appat.
She captivated the participants with her vivid stories about nature in Greenland, which the participants could feel meant a lot to her. They had many questions about Greenland’s nature and were curious about all that you can catch in nature, which is so very different from Denmark.
The interest was so great and her pictures were so popular that they bought her pictures.
She sold five pictures at the premiere.
