Born 1984, Dixon, Illinois, USA
Norwegian Organization Number: 918 731 989
EIT Culture & Creativity Expert Evaluator, Member: BONO, NBK, LHSA
Author: Le Lapin
Mari Amman is an international artist. Raised in rural Illinois near the Agonic line, surrounded by forest and prairie preserves, a nuclear power plant, and industrial agriculture, Amman’s Nordic-Italian ancestral lineage including genealogy with political activist Ellen Ammann and landscape artist Harriet Sundström sparked anthropogenic and anthropological research. Amman pursues interest in the sublime through a historic, field-study, artistic research process. Images and installations often resource her practices in poetry, performance, painting, sculpture, video. A deep sense of texture and color run through her multidisciplinary practice. She collaborates with music, science, architecture, cultural and design professionals.
The notion of Geological Empathy inspired her to create Aesthetic Resonances, based on pedagogical methods for internal human skill enrichment in Pattern Recognition, Visual Literacy, and Body Architecture. Her projects have risen out of questioning nuances that denature or conserve, deconstructing the apparatus of photography, looking at socially constructed formations, with attention to conceptual influences of secular and sacred on the real and imaginary realms. The parietal aspects of perception guide her multidisciplinary work inviting viewers into afferent spaces of contemplation on timeless themes in relationships between technology, scientific methods, mortality, violence, landscape and built environments. The transcendent experience of beauty and truth-seeking pursuits inspired rheological attention to ways the subconscious and somatic reveal.
Her work is collected in private and public collections, with prizes and residencies including Art Farm Iowa (US, 2023) and Arte Expuesto (MX, 2023), Trélex Paris poet-in-residence (FR, 2023), Bonny Doon art residence (US, 2022), Kjerringøy Land Art residence (NO, 2020), Forest bathing guide and Sublime Timescapes talk. She developed trauma informed methods and psychological research at Angelot-Trélex (CH, 2019), and joined PraksisOslo as a resident, Praxisdanfestivalen Tricia Brown’s Set and Reset as performer, Butoh study with Mushimaru Fujieda at KHiO (NO, 2017, 2018). The moral significance and nuanced difference of evolutionary biology is expressed through Solfège Souche and Afjordance screened at AWMAS (UCSB, 2020). Omniscient, monolithic image and text was awarded 1st by the jury in the Imaging New Eurasia exhibition, at the Asia Cultural Center in Gwangju (SK, 2015). She holds a Master of Fine Art (honours) with Frankfurt School Theory/Conceptual Studio Practice from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles (2015) and Bachelor of Fine Art (Dean’s List) in Advertising/Interior Design from Illinois Institute of Art (2006), Darkroom Photography and History of Photography at College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois, Social Psychology at Ehime University in Matsuyama, Japan (2012).
Selected Photography, Art, Design, Writing and Consulting Clients: Norway House Foundation, BBC, Nordre Aker Bydel, Smelteverket, Ekebergparken, Boffi Studio, Open House Oslo, 22nd Century Media, Outdoor IL, Dept. Natural Resources, Jesse Bornstein Architecture, Veveri Co., Katapult Books.
CV | Voice/Piano | Teaching | Resume | Studio Visits | Portfolios | LinkedIn | IG | Meditations:
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Limited edition giclée prints: are signed with certificates of authenticity. Museum-quality, acid-free matting is recommended. Museum-quality glass removes glare; UV-coated glass is sufficient for archival properties.
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Custom installations and reproductions of artworks into textiles or mosaics, on vinyl, metal, and other printing techniques for scalable public installations are possible.
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Permanent Installations & Collections
2025/6 Forthcoming: Gong Teppe, Installation, TBD
2025/6 Forthcoming: Igloo, Installation, TBD
2025 Mouvements, Public Installation, Art Farm Iowa, Northwood, Iowa
2023 Arte Expuesto Foundation, Monterrey, Nuevo Léon, Mexico
2023 30seconds of Lake Michigan, Art Farm Iowa, Northwood, Iowa
2017 Teknovisuell Experience, Public Installation, Otis Admissions Office, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Awards & Residencies
2025 Lademoen Kunstverksted Residency, Trondheim, Norway
2023 Paris Poetry Residency, France
2022 Redwoods Residency, California
2020 Kjerringøy Land Art, Bodø, Norway
2020 Bi-Monthly Semi-Finalist, Dumbo Film Festival, NYC, United States
2019 Ello Getty Images Selected Artist, California, United States
2019 UKS/PNEK Residency, Oslo, Norway
2019 Atelier Nord Prosjektrom, Oslo, Norway
2019 Angelot Trélex Residency, Chéserex, Switzerland
2018 Mushimaru Fujzieda Butoh Scholarship, The National Academy for the Arts, Oslo, Norway
2017 Praksis: A Global State of Pareidolia, Residency, Oslo, Norway
2017 The Past and the Curious, Praxisfestivalen, DansensHus, Oslo, Norway
2015 First Place by the Jury, Imagining New Eurasia, Asia Culture Center, South Korea
2015 Woelffer Scholarship, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, United States
2014 Academic Merit Award, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, United States
2013 Academic Scholarship, Social Psychology, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan
2010 Indiana Historic Pathways Photography Award, Indiana University, United States
2003 Pi Sigma Pi Academic Honour in History, Byron High School, United States
Education
2015 Master Fine Art, Honours, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California, United States
2006 Bachelor Art, Dean’s List, Illinois Institute of Art, Schaumburg, Illinois, United States
2019 Art of Washi Paper in Japanese Rare Books, Keio University, Online
2018 Sino-Japanese Interactions Through Rare Books, Keio University, Online
2018 Music Moves: Why Does Music Make You Move, UiO, Online
2018 Japanese Avant-Garde Art, Keio University, Online
2015 Norwegian Language, Rosenhof Voksenopplæring, Oslo, Norway
2013 Social Psychology, Ehime University, Matsuyama-shi, Ehime Prefecture, Japan
2012 History of Photography & Darkroom Photography, College of Lake County, Illinois, United States
2003 Interior Design, Illinois Institute of Art, Schaumburg, Illinois, United States
Teaching & Artist Talks
2020 Artist Talk and Workshops (ages 6 – 15), Kjerringøy, Bodø, Norway
2020 Afjordance, Exhibition and Talk, AWMAS, UC Santa Barbara, United States
2019 Artist Talk, Fotogalleriet, Oslo, Norway
2018 Movement Course, Blank Space Gallery, Oslo, Norway
2017 Body Architecture Course, Barnas Open House Oslo, Sentralen, Oslo, Norway
2014 Subtle Energy & Colour, Talk, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, United States
2013 The Personal/Universal, Talk, Walker Point Center for the Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Books, Press & Interviews
Reimaginations Music Album Art
All In Twilight Music Album Art
Forthcoming: Poetry Prose &Suche
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Forthcoming: Suspended Planes, Installation with UiO Prosjekt Cellf, TEKS, Trondheim, Norway
2023 More Than Human, Arte Expuesto, Public Billboard Installations, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
2019 Over a Streambed a Body Formed in the Light Refracted in Waves, Photography, Torso, Oslo, Norway
2019 Magenta Minds & Amber Hearts, Images and Paintings from Trélex Residency, Bernt Ankers Gate, Oslo, Norway
2019 Mouvements, Photography, Akers Mek, Aker Brygge, Oslo, Norway
2018 Mouvements, Photography, Oslo Art and Fashion Festival, Vérité, Oslo, Norway
2017 Memoria Technika, Installation, Oslo Art & Fashion Festival, Aker Brygge, Oslo, Norway
2015 Image Architecture, Installation, Otis Studios, Los Angeles, CA, United States
2015 Making Sense, Installation, Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, United States
2010 Not Even But Almost, Photography, The Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL United States
2008 Photography, Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, Chicago, IL United States
Group Exhibitions, Screenings & Conferences
2024 Groomed, Video Installation, Rotvoll Kunstfestival, Trondheim, Norway
2023 Sublime Timescapes, Photography, Double Vision, 515Bendix Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA
2023 Solfége Souche and Afjordance, Video, Manifest/o, Galleri KiT, Trondheim, Norway
2022 Stop Bath, Video Scenography for Nordic folk singers, Kunsthuset Wrap, Bergen, Norway
2022 La Mer, Video Scenography, Young Musicians Night, Rockheim Museum, Trondheim, Norway
2022 Solfége Souche, Video, Artport Festival, El Gouna, Red Sea, Egypt
2021 Blåtime Sol, Video, Les Voyagers 4th Edition, Tunis, North Africa
2021 Blåtime Sol, Video, Equinox Exhibition, Bodø Kunstforening, Norway
2021 Midwest (aquarelle) Y-Blokka (sculpture), Trondheim Billedkunst Exhibition, Trondheim, Norway
2021 Body Line and Blåtime Sol, Video Projection, The World We Live In, Groningen, Netherlands
2021 Solfége Souche, Video Projection, Paris, France
2020 Vereri, Photography, Affordable Art Fair, Represented by Albumen Gallery, London, U.K.
2020 Afjordance, Video Projection, Kvinnekroppen at Arteriet, Kristiansand, Norway
2020 Afjordance, Video Projection, AWAMS 2020, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
2019 Monoliths, Photography, Artsy Exhibition, The Print Atelier, Montreal, Canada
2019 Monoliths, Photography, Feel the Burn, MIM Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2019 Solfége Souche, Video Projection, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA), Gyeonggi-do, Korea
2019 Damocles, Sculpture, Elemental Kate Exhibition, Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield, UK
2019 Sublime Timescapes, Photography, Fotogalleriet Atelier, Oslo, Norway
2019 Incarner des roses, Photography, Les Voyagers, Nout Art Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2018 Sublime Timescapes, Photography, Tid (time), CYAN Studio, Oslo, Norway
2018 Wave, Photography, Benefit Auction, Rockford University, Rockford, IL, United States
2018 Vesper Monumenter and Et Dypt Nett, Dual-Site Installation, Elvelangs i Fakkellys, Oslo, Norway
2017 9Worlds of Image and Light, Installation, Elvelangs i Fakkellys, Smelteverket, Vulkan, Oslo, Norway
2017 Photography, PraksisOslo Kulturnatt, Rådhusgata 19, Oslo, Norway
2016 30seconds of Lake Michigan, Photo, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CA, United States
2016 Omniscient, Photography and Poem, Here, There, Everywhere: Eurasian Cities, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea
2015 Security Blanket, Installation, On The Roof, Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, United States
2014 Undulation, Photography, Variations of a Whole, Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, United States
2014 PhotoLA, LA Mart, CA, United States
2013 Robert T. Wright Gallery, Paintings, College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL, United States
2012 Liminal Metanoia, Photography, 2Rules Gallery, Atlanta, GA, United States
2011 Photography, Life Support Japan, Wall-Space Gallery, CA, United States
2011 Portraits, Photography, Returning the Gaze, Northern Trust Bank, Chicago, IL, United States
2010 Portrait, Illustration, Johalla Projects Gallery, 50 Alderman/50 Artists, Chicago, IL, United States
2000 Depths of Imagination, Mixed-Media, Rockford Art Museum, IL, United States
1999 The Field’s Project, Land Art, Viewable by Air, Oregon, IL, United States
