Hanne Lydia Opøien Figenschou (b1964, Trondheim) is a Norwegian artist who lives and works in Oslo and Tromsø. Over the years, she has created a body of work consisting of drawings, videos and prose with recurring motifs and thematic cross-references. She explores themes such as gender and identity, violence in close relationships, the self-portrait, tourism, feminism, abortion, happiness and shame. She is renowned for her trompe l'oeil drawing technique using coloured pencils on black paper.
This catalogue presents her latest series, titled Happiness is Easy, created between 2024 and 2026. The drawings explore the duality of happiness in relation to contemporary global realities, reflecting the tension between external events and internal states. The artist invites viewers to engage with the implicit ideologies embedded within the images and to question how notions of happiness in Norway and beyond are constructed, mediated and experienced.
The accompanying text is written by Ingrid Van Hecke, an art historian and the gallery director of Husk Gallery, a contemporary art gallery based in Brussels with a strong focus on drawing. As part of its core programme, Husk Gallery also publishes catalogues and artists' monographs.
