BIOGRAPHY
My name is Malin Kjelsrud. I was born 1972 in Oslo, Norway, but grew up in Kongsvinger, a town near the Swedish border. I have always drawn and written, but it wasn’t until around 2006 I took my urges to create seriously. My works transcends both genre and materials. I have discovered that text in various forms is a red thread in many of my visual works. I have had exhibitions of visual art both in Germany and in Norway. In recent years I have concentrated on working with text for music, both «art music» and pop music, as well as poetry and other types of literary text. I have worked with Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen, Dagfinn Koch, Edvard Grieg-choir, Meininger Staatstheater, Høgskolen Kristiania, Hartmut Schulz, Opera on Tap Vienna, Mats Edén, Jon Ruder, Tirill Mohn m.fl.
I am concerned with everything human. And my works often explore contrasts: light and dark, life and death, decay and renewal, sadness and joy, loneliness and belonging. My life has been anything but easy. I have had multiple serious health issues, but somehow, so far, always survived. In the intersection of my own health issues, challenges with technique and what I love most: interpersonal experiences, I try to navigate between wholeness and chaos, depth and shallowness, humor and seriousness.
I am a trained nurse (1998) and studied a half bachelor degree (70 points) of «history of ideas»/»Intellectual history» at the University of Oslo.
I joined NOPA in 2018 and have received the Musikkfondene‘s lyricist author scholarship (Tekstforfatterfondet) and NOPA’s Seed Grain (Såkornmidler) multiple times.
These days, I mostly write words for voices, like libretti, pop/rock-songwriting, classical ensambles/choir, but also poetry, short stories and longer, more experimental works. In other projects, I use materials like canvas, paper, paint, pens, photo, clay, fabric, yarn, wire, video, mixed media.
(See my CV for further info).