Bente Nordhagen grew up in Oslo. She moved to northern Norway as a 19-year-old. In addition to photography, she is interested in family history – the history of the Kven people in particular.
Bente spends a lot of time developing as an art photographer. The last few years have been devoted to combining genealogy and photography without being documentary. She wants to bring her prehistory to life, with emotions and moods. Where genealogical research is analytical and fact-based, photography can supplement feelings and wordless moods.
Bente showed her pictures publicly for the first time in 2020 in the picture story The nameless time before me together with Halti Kvenkultursenter. It was during the corona lockdown and the photo story was part of the digital event on the Kven people’s Day. Bente has further developed the picture narrative to become an exhibition with pictures and text which she has shown in several places in northern Norway.
She became a juried member of the Norwegian Association for Independent Artists (NFUK) in autumn 2022 and had a picture accepted for NFUK's annual exhibition in 2023.
