The artist Olaug Vethal

Cavalier Exhibition 2008 "Olaug was one of us - she was

married, lived and taught here. She was Norwegian and she

has clearly enjoyed mushing with the clash of cultures."

Some questions might occur. Who was Olaug Vethal? A

Norwegian artist living in Malta as the website puts it? On

the Norwegian Wikipedia pages someone wrote that she

was a Norwegian-Maltese artist. Or should we go that far

even call to her Maltese with foreign roots, as most people

in Malta who knew her would say "she was one of us".

Olaug grew up in the Norwegian countryside having a

Norwegian father and an English stepmother and she and

her sisters were known to the locals as "the English girls".

As a young adult Olaug spent some time in Denmark, where

her mother's family originated. She then moved to Germany

after getting married. Into the marriage she brought the

English cuisine and Anglo-Norwegian Christmas traditions,

and introduced the Norwegian language and the typical

Scandinavian pragmatism to her husband. Living in

Germany, she adapted the positive attitude towards

scholarship and high culture, like the Classics, which are

often found in the German upper-middle class families, and

with her eagerness to learn and improve her knowledge she

could be more "German" then Germans felt they could be.

When Olaug moved to Malta in 1988 and married into a

Sliema-family, she did not suffer from a cultural shock as

Malta herself had and still has strong ties with Great

Britain. Also the Maltese way of life, traditional openness

towards foreigners and a magnificent hospitality, helped

her to settle. The down-to-earth mentality and the cordial

and friendly acquaintance, except in driving, was gladly

taken up by Olaug. Learning Maltese and through this,

getting to know the "other Malta" helped her to blend

in. At the De La salle College , she worked with the

Franciscans and their inspiring example opened her heart

and mind for the Catholic Faith. As I observed, it took but a

few years and she had been absorbed perfectly, in my eyes

sometimes scaring perfectly, into the Maltese society.

Asked why she did not apply for the citizenship, she said

she was too busy with other things going on.

However, this was only one side of the medal. Olaug could

walk out the door and chitchat in Maltese with the

fishermen in St Julians or to a shopkeepers wife. Two hours

later she would stand in a church and explain the

architecture and art history to a tourist group (poor guide

included) and there match any lesson of a skilled

German professor in those subjects. Later Olaug would take

a trip to the countryside in the north, walking and enjoying

the outdoor life, like she was used to in  Norway. 

So who was Olaug Vethal? She had adapted to a bit of

everything but , at first,  she was herself. When mayor

Harald Espelund said at the opening of the Jessheim

Exhibition, that she was a girl from Ullensaker, from the

neighbourhood, he was just as right as Nicholas De Piro,

who said "she is one of us". Looking at the art makes it

easy. I describe it as a brand, "made in Malta". The

structure has strong German roots, it contains some

Northern spirit, but the joy of life, the sceneries, the

explosion of colours and the movement within the

paintings, that is Malta.

Born in Norway, grown up in an Anglo-Norwegian

environment, educated in Germany and settled and

assimilated in Malta gives her life a strong European

dimension. If we are not just saying that she is Olaug

Vethal,  I conclude that the closest thing to

describe her is European. Her art has roots in several

countries. She has chosen the best all countries had to

offer, leaving out what she thought was being bad or

unnecessary.

Even in todays enlightened Europe there is a tendency to

judge individuals after their nationality first. One of us or

not one of us, is the often the first question asked. Olaug

ignored this nonsense and saw only the human and the

reply was equal. Maltese who did not know her, noticed

that she was foreign, but she was hardly ever treated as a

stranger. Her home was Europe, many of her friends and

co-artist came from other European countries like Nelli

Dukakis from Greece, Jeni Caruana from England and Ebba

von Fersen Balzan, a German aristocrat. While in

Strassbourg, in Bruxelles and in many European capitals,

politicians and civil servants work to create a united

Europe, Olaug lived this dream and vision, ignoring all

obstacles.

A close friend of mine once said, "Home is where you lay

your head". I think my mother did it this way. She found her

last home on the Maltese Islands and thanks to the

Maltese people she was permitted to lay down her head in

Malta.