Fagsnakk / Artist Talk. Life in death: Reflections on mortality

Life in death: Reflections on Mortality

Join artist Natalie Field as she reflects on mortality at the intersection of art, science, and human experience in the Medical Museum’s exhibition Livet i døden. Drawing on her photographic series Human.Nature, Field explores the existential role of death and how the awareness of mortality shapes life. Through the practice of “dying in the forest,” she contemplates the body’s return to the soil and our connection to the cycles of matter and energy, engaging with mythology, transformation, and continuity. 

The talk traces Field’s journey from Human.Nature to her current position at IKOM, where NTNU prepares both human and animal specimens for medical education. By juxtaposing artistic exploration with anatomical practice, she offers a layered perspective on mortality, inviting reflection on the flow of matter from atoms to ecosystems and the ways art and science together can deepen our understanding of life, death, and the human condition. 

For this occasion, Livet i Døden will be activated through a short film and live poetry reading, creating an immersive experience that extends the exhibition and invites visitors to reflect on mortality, the body, and our broader relationship with the natural world. 

Artist Bio 

Natalie Field (b.1982, South Africa) is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher exploring human relationships with the more-than-human world. Working with the dead animal body, photography, performance, and installation, she investigates biodiversity loss, ecological grief, and multispecies entanglements. Field holds a B.Tech in Photography from Nelson Mandela University (2008) and an MFA from the Art Academy in Trondheim (2023) and has exhibited internationally, including the Medical Museum (Norway, 2024), National Museum of Wildlife Art (USA, 2023), K-U-K (Norway, 2023), Rejmyre Art Lab (Sweden, 2022), and Berman Contemporary (South Africa, 2018–2020). Field is a Fine Art Photography Awards Experimental category runner-up (2024) and a Creature Conserve Fellow (2024–2025).

Exhibition at the Medical Museum

Livet i Døden is the current exhibition at the Medical Museum, curated by Mona Ødegården. It is open to all during the building’s opening hours and can be visited at Kunnskapssenteret, 3rd floor, Øya, Trondheim.
In addition to the main exhibition, the Medical Museum will present a satellite exhibition at Øya Library this fall – keep an eye out!