Ann Cathrin November Høibo is a Norwegian artist based in Oslo and Kristiansand. Her tapestries form part of a lineage of Norwegian textile art that stretches back through her mentor, Else Marie Jakobsen, in turn a pupil of Hannah Ryggen, to Frida Hansen, who established the Workshop For National Tapestry Weaving in 1892. Working both with and against associated traditions, Høibo’s weavings are typically finished at a moment before they are complete. Working in an improvised way, often ignoring any regular sequence of warp and weft, she leaves threads trailing or casually bundled up. Though she clearly savours craft and technique, she rejects a homespun aesthetic: natural threads are counterpoised by shiny nylons and other oil-derived, highly durable looking polyesters. The interjection of variant materials alludes to a wider world of the textile industry and clothes. They retain some of the impression of the body too, yet appear to have been chosen for their generic qualities: the most impersonal of personal items. Just as Jakobsen, Ryggen and Hansen before her; Høibo’s work claims a place for textiles as a legitimate artistic media to express social, political and personal concerns.

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, born 1979 is a Norwegian artist based in Oslo and Kristiansand. She is a graduate of Städelschule (MA), The National College of the Arts Oslo (MA) and the National Academy of Art and Handcraft (BA). Selected solo exhibitions include A Room with a View at Kristiansand Kunsthall (2013), It’s not the title because it doesn’t make sense anymore at Oslo Kunstforening (2012) and Christopher Burden on my Shoulders at STANDARD (OSLO) in Oslo (2012). Selected group shows include Apples and Pears at DREI Galerie in Cologne (2014), The Cat Show at White Columns in New York (2013), Traces of Life at Wentrup Gallery in Berlin (2013), Plentitude at Carl Freedman Gallery in London (2012), Game of Life at Kristiansand Kunsthall (2012), A Disagreeable Object at Sculpture Center in New York (2012) and The Human Pattern at Kunsthall Oslo (2011). She has also shown at Frieze in New York (2013) and Art Basel Miami (2011) with STANDARD (OSLO).