Jane Avril

Various mediums
2004 – ongoing

The project is about my relation to French dance performer Jane Avril (1868-1943) who was a model and friend of Toulouse-Lautrec. I’ve felt connected to her personality and artistic expression ever since the very first time I saw images and photos of her.
It was like finding a soulmate, or a reflection of oneself in another era.

Since 2004, I’ve tried in different ways to get close to her and her era, including reading and researching about her life, recreating her clothing style and wearing it as everyday wear, visiting her places in Paris, staging and interpreting her dancing.

Jane Avril – The life of a Moulin Rouge dancer
Video, 1 H 20 min
2023

Jane Avril – The life of a Moulin Rouge dancer is an artistic documentary where I tell all the facts I have found about Jane Avril’s life in detail, starting from her birth in 1868 to her death in 1943.
I reference all the historical facts and plausible stories I had found up until 2022.
I often present info in front of places linked to the presented period in Jane’s life. The documentary was made while on a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts. It was shot in Paris and in Jouy-en-Josas, France.

The documentary is part of the larger body of work about my relation to French dance performer Jane Avril (1868-1943), who was a model and friend of artist Toulouse-Lautrec. I’ve felt connected to her personality and artistic expression ever since the very first time I saw images and photos of her in 2004.

My sources for making Jane Avril – The life of a Moulin Rouge dancer are: population censuses, the archive of Performing Arts – Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the archive of Museé Montmarte, a biography on Jane Avril from 1952, and my translation of Jane Avril’s memoirs from 1933, as well as biographies on Toulouse-Lautrec and the catalog from Courtauld Gallery’s exhibition Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril – Beyond The Moulin Rouge.

Altar for Jane Avril – Zenith
Textile, beads, found objects, photography
Size: 67 x 35 cm
2022

Altar for Jane Avril – Coil
Textile, beads, found objects, photography
Size: 25 x 59 cm
2022

Jane Avril – Solo Cancan Dance
Video loop and installation (projected on a folding wall, 2 m x 1,85 m (78 x 72 in)
2019, 2021

No filmed recording exists of Jane Avril dancing, but written sources describe her movements as very energetic, erratic and jerky. She is described as having a refined strangeness and elegance. Avril improvised while performing and drew the movements from within herself.

Jane Avril – Solo Dance
Video loop and installation (projected on a folding wall, 2m x 1,20 m (78×47 in)
2019, 2021

In two video loops I try to channel her while performing and immerse myself in her stage persona. In the first loop I invoke her as the solo cancaneuse with an alluring, seductive smile, but with a hint of madness.

In the second loop she is the sombre slow dancer who improvises her movements as she channels a convulsive power from within, and sinks into a rapid, ecstatic twirl.

A Self-Taught Cancan Routine
Video stills on dibond, 30 cm/11 inches height
2004, 2021 

Documentation of my first attempt at getting close to the movements and feelings of Jane Avril, by performing a self-taught cancan routine in front of an audience at my high school.

Each video still segment is named after the different steps of the dance, such as “Battement” (“Beating”) and “Coup de cul” (“Ass kick.”)

Au Musée d’Orsay
Photograph, 120 x 85 cm/47 x 33 inches
2006, 2021
Photo by Åsa Pröjts

The photo is taken in 2006 at Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
Between 2005-2006, the clothing style of Jane Avril and bohemian women of the 1890s was my preferred everyday wear. 

I’m standing in front of the Toulouse-Lautrec painting «Jane Avril Dancing.» The photo shows how several layers of time interact and collide – the 1890s painting with its frame, me in the style of that era, photographed in 2006 with an analogue camera – the standard photo method of that time.

Jane Avril – Maria Norrman
Video loop with voiceover
2020 – ongoing

In the video I describe my sincere and obsessive relation to Jane Avril. The video includes filmed material from my first performance in 2004 to more recent work like my participation in a cancan dance class in Paris 2018.

In other segments I comment on the making of the Solo Cancan and Solo Dance loops. I also show images of myself and her in different ages and situations.

Jane Avril – Maria Norrman – Timeline
Text, MDF, wood
280 x 52 cm/110 x 20 inches
2020 – ongoing

A timeline where mine and Jane Avrils lives are mapped out.
While her timeline goes from her birth to her death, mine is still ongoing, and to be added to as I age.

This work gives an overview of her life, mine in relation to the project, the time span, and shows both similarities and differences in hers and my life.