Biography
Wilfred Wessel Berthelsen is a former student of Morten Krogvold, and his work bears traces of inspiration from masters such as Sebastião Salgado, Michael Kenna and Ansel Adams. He works mainly in black and white, but allows color to find a place where it adds depth and nuance to the visual language.
His photographs are characterized by an inner silence and a poetic approach to the landscape – a visual thoughtfulness that both Morten Krogvold and Ralph Gibson have highlighted in their descriptions of his work.
In 2014, Berthelsen received silver in the world's largest photography competition, the Sony World Photography Awards. He has had a number of solo exhibitions, including in London, Oslo and Bergen – where he sold all of his works during the show in Grieghallen. The photo book and exhibition Exodus were met with great interest and are currently sold out.
In the fall of 2025 he will exhibit the series EUMBRA at Galleri Daidda in Oslo. In 2026 he has been invited to exhibit at the Nordic Light photo festival in Kristiansund, Norway's largest photo festival. In Dubai, there will be an exhibition in April 2026. Later in September in China at the Hong Art Museum in Chongqing.
Wilfred's photographs have been published in a number of photography and art magazines, both nationally and internationally.
Wilfred Wessel has an unusual lifelong art project.
EXODUS
The EXODUS project began in 2009 after Wilfred's first photographic expedition to Antarctica. The encounter with the frozen continent was a turning point – a landscape so silent and infinite that he wanted to convey the feeling of both solitude and presence.
Through the series, he explores the calm, fragility and mystery of a world of ice, snow and light – a place where the silence of nature speaks louder than words. EXODUS is about seeing the familiar in a new way, and about turning a spotlight on the vulnerable areas threatened by climate change.
The series was met with great interest both nationally and internationally, and is currently sold out.
Inspired by photographers such as Sebastião Salgado, Michael Kenna and Ansel Adams, Wilfred seeks to create images that encompass both absence and presence – what Ralph Gibson described as a feeling of “awayfullness” , being away, yet present.
UMBRA
Wilfred's latest photo series, exhibition opens at Dáidda in the fall of 2025.
There are moments in nature where I feel like I'm not alone.
There is a presence there – unseen but undeniable. The Norwegian forests have an aura that is ancient, almost conscious. In the silence between the trees I feel the thin membrane between worlds – where myths may not be invented, and dreams may be fragments of another reality.
UMBRA explores these unseen dimensions – the shadow layers that exist alongside our own world. It asks: What is real, and what is remembered? Are dreams echoes from parallel layers of existence?
Through fog, forest and light, I attempt to photograph that which cannot be seen – the hint of something alive beyond our perception. Each image becomes a threshold: between wakefulness and sleep, between the physical and the spiritual, between myth and memory.
This is photography interspersed with manual work, where various techniques and methods are used.
The images are not processed in Photoshop, and no artificial intelligence has been used. Everything is created through analog processes, experimentation and direct physical intervention in the material – a work that allows chance, time and hand to meet the light.
In UMBRA, nature is not a backdrop. It is a living consciousness – a voice that whispers about what came before us, and what still exists, just beyond our sight.
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Upcoming exhibitions
2025 — UMBRA , solo exhibition, Daidda Gallery, Oslo, Norway
2026 — Dubai Exhibition , Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2026 — Nordic Light Festival of Photography , Kristiansund, Norway
2026 — Museum Show , Hong Art Museum, Chongqing, China
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Previous exhibitions (solo and group)
2010 — Antarctica , Bergen, Norway
2015 — Nordic Light Festival of Photography , Kristiansund, Norway
2016 — Åsane , Bergen, Norway
2021 — Exodus , solo exhibition, London, UK
2022 — Exodus , solo exhibition, Grieghallen, Bergen, Norway
2023 — Exodus , solo exhibition, Oslo, Norway
2023 — Nordhordaland Photo Tour , Norway
2023 — Art Palette , Knarvik, Norway
2025 — Walk of Water — exhibition at UNESCO, Paris, France
2025 — Descending Jupiter , Bergen, Norway
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Awards and honors
2013 — Spider Awards — international photography award
2014 — Sony World Photography Awards — Silver, Landscape Category
2015 — Spider Awards — international photography award
2015 — Jury's Choice , NPCC — Norwegian Photo Competition
2024 — Guest speaker , Norwegian Nature Photography Festival, Ski, Norway
2025 — Walk of Water Awards — international award / UNESCO
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Publications
2022 — Exodus — photo book, limited edition of 400 copies (sold out)
2023 — Thank you — autobiography (self-published)
Do you want an artist meeting?
You also have the opportunity to meet Wilfred for a conversation about art, nature and the vision behind the photographs. Artist meetings can be held physically (by appointment) or digitally, and are perfect for those who want to delve deeper into a purchase, a project or a collaboration.