Lorie Ballage

Lorie Ballage practice emerges from a deep engagement with water—as a transformative element and a metaphor for the fluidity of human experience. It began with a personal confrontation of fear: the vast, unfathomable depths of the ocean. Scuba diving became both a physical and symbolic journey, sparking her fascination with the ways water shapes our perceptions, dissolves boundaries, and invites us into spaces of vulnerability and transformation.

In her installations, Ballage works predominantly with ceramic sculptures which are contrasted by recycled industrial materials, narration, and sound to create environments that blur the line between the familiar and the uncanny. These multi-sensory spaces serve as invitations to pause and reflect, revealing the invisible layers of connection between ourselves, our surroundings, and each other.

At its core, her work is a quest to open dialogues about the structures that govern our lives and the possibilities that arise when we embrace fluidity over rigidity. By exploring themes of longing, failure, and interconnectedness, she aims to create moments where audiences can engage with their own inner worlds while contemplating their place within the broader environmental and societal context.

Lorie Ballage (b. 1994 in Paris) holds an MFA from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design and a BFA from the Art Academy of Dundee. She has exhibited at, among others, Pragovka Gallery (Prague), Kunstnernes Hus, Carl Berner Projektrom (Oslo), Bergen Kunsthall, Kunstgarasjen, KRAFT (Bergen), Studio 17 (Stavanger), and the Mark Rothko Art Center in Latvia. She is based in Bergen, Norway.

About the exhibition

The exhibition SINK & SOAP presents new bodies of work which engage with water as a transformative force—both as a physical element and a metaphor for fluidity, failure, and care in the human experience.

Rooted in my ongoing project Bath Time, the installation explores the porous boundaries between function and fiction, object and body, ritual and absurdity. Sculptural elements are composed of hand-built ceramics and recycled industrial materials, forming immersive environments that invite slowness, play, and reflection. This evolving ecosystem questions the structures that frame our everyday gestures—what we discard, what we preserve, how we nurture.

Through a growing commitment to upcycling, collaboration, and scenographic storytelling, this project embodies my desire to question permanence, celebrate transformation, and build a sustainable, ever-evolving visual language.

Utstillingsåpning 15. oktober kl. 18.