LGBTQ+ Mural by Eva Hansen Sjøvold in Oslo, Norway

Eva Hansen Sjøvold (21) has painted Norway’s first LGBTQ+ mural as part of Løkka-Lykke street art festival in Oslo

Held in the central district of Grünerløkka, Løkka-Lykke announced itself on the street art scene in 2021 with eleven artists producing site-specific works ranging from large-scale murals to small-scale interventions. Løkka-Lykke street art festival is an initiative from Løkka Gårdeierforening and Street Art Oslo, which springs from an idea to celebrate Grünerløkka’s unique identity.

“The motif I’ve painted is two friends of mine, slightly turned apart, in a purple-blue light. I wanted to make something that was queer – but at the same time not so clearly queer, inspired by the way you meet other queer people on the street. Maybe they smile a little at each other, without people around wanting to see this connection. It’s a gay man and a lesbian woman – it could have been a love painting, but it is still not.

As a queer, I’m interested in the androgynous and experiment a lot with visual language in relation to this. I want to find ways to express the “inner space”, that is, the lives of others and my own emotional life through figurative painting. I like to paint others rather than myself, because in that way these characters can become something I use to understand both myself and those I paint.

Mural is located at Marstrandgata 12, 0566 Oslo.
Scroll down below to see more photos of Eva Hansen Sjøvold’s work.