Anna Sofie Mathiasen

Anna Sofie Mathiasen (DK) (b. 1995) lives and works in Oslo. Rooted in animation and drawing, her practice centers on cross-media and montage-based storytelling, expressed through installations, drawings, collages, sculptures, and video works. She works especially with narrative stop-motion and animated films that combine hand-drawn and found imagery—taking inspiration from children’s TV shows like Cirkeline, Historiebogen (Hastrup), Pingu (Gutmann), and La Linea (Cavandoli).

In her work, she uses collected materials from various archives, whether historical or literary, which she combines with autobiographical elements in the fictionalization of a particular question.

Her focus is on conveying complex, often socially critical stories through a visual language that is accessible, direct, and emotionally resonant—qualities inherent to animation and drawing. Classical pedagogical tools and techniques make it possible for her to ask, quite directly, about issues such as mental health as a broader societal crisis, as she most recently did through the exhibition Folly at O—Overgaden (Copenhagen, DK) in 2023 and at Nitja – Senter for Samtidskunst (Lillestrøm, NO) in 2024. The exhibition mimics a garden and translates questions about mental and environmental health into animation, drawing, installation, and sculpture. It includes the four-chapter stop-motion film: Pet Follies (2023). The film is composed of drawn and found material. It tells the story of a depressed penguin who watches gardening shows on the couch. The penguin attempts to work through the depression by turning to therapy, gardening, and composting, eventually trying to buy a piece of land with its friend, the turtle.

She is represented by Galleri K in Oslo and has previously exhibited at Kunsthall Oslo (NO), Kunstnernes Hus (NO), Nitja – Senter for Samtidskunst (NO), BO (NO), Guttormsgaards arkiv (NO), Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (ES).