Komafest

Komafest 2012 ran 5–21 July in Vardø, Norway's easternmost town, organised by Norwegian artist Pøbel. Vhils and his crew, known locally as The Dalton Brothers, worked from historical photographs to carve portraits of a local fisherman and a baker into two buildings, at 40 Kristian 4 Gata and 66 Strandgata, in a community shaped by the decline of the fishing industry and decades of depopulation. One portrait marked a departure in his practice: carved into the painted render of a timber façade instead of concrete, answering to the material character of northern Norwegian architecture. The works asserted the continued presence of people and stories receding from public attention.