The municipalities of Lurøy and Træna lie along the coast in Nordland County. They include 2,400 islands, islets and rock reefs. Here in this breath-taking archipelago, the Church of Norway has built centres of worship. This is the world of Anders Rosland, the parish priest who makes God’s Word known to the inhabitants.
He’s always on the move: between houses clustered along the shore, on the way to a funeral, visiting parents who want to baptize a child, administering last rites, or on the way to a confirmation camp. Rosland acts as a human hub for those living in this challenging natural setting.
Priests and Christianity aren’t sexy themes in mass media, but to travel around with a priest opens doors in society – doors that were closed by taboos many years ago.
Eivind H. Natvig
Anders Rosland’s social involvement far exceeds his priestly vocation. As a man of the sea, he could teach us all an extra thing or two after mass – for instance how to sail or get about in an ocean kayak. Teaching the faith is important, but compassion, empathy and fellowship are even more important to him.
“Come, for all is now ready.” When a priest in the Church of Norway utters this phrase, it signals that the congregation can come forward to receive Communion. And they come. Rosland is a pastor to those who mourn and those who rejoice; he is there at the beginning and end of life and participates in all that befalls the community. It is this ‘drama of life’ that the photographer Eivind H. Natvig has witnessed. It provides motifs for a distinctive visual expression that exists somewhere between photojournalism and low-voiced poetry. Ordinary life, as it has been lived for generations, is Natvig’s focus. As he himself says: “The normal is more than enough for me”.
Eivind H. Natvig has won several grants and prizes for his work. He is a member of the photojournalist collective Moment Agency, and in 2014 joined the international photo agency INSTITUTE.
