My quick study of one of Gunnar Bratlie’s sketches in his book, Skisser i smug: Glimt fra livet på Grini [Sketches in Secret: Glimpses of Life at Grini]. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1945.

Gunnar Bratlie (1918–1990) was a Norwegian illustrator known for his book covers and illustrations, including the complete works of Selma Lagerlöf.

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During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, he was imprisoned with the editor of Norsk Ukeblad, Ernst Ancher-Hanssen, for a caricature of Vidkun Quisling published in Norsk Ukeblad in February 1943. The caricature portrayed Quisling as an unsteady ice-skating boy being helped to stand by a man with a Hitler moustache. Bratlie was imprisoned in Grini concentration camp from February 19 1943 to March 22 1945. He kept his Grini sketches hidden in a hollow table leg, and they were regularly smuggled out of the camp. I was lucky enough to find a first-edition copy of Bratlie’s book through a bookstore in Sweden. The preface was written by co-prisoner and professor Francis Bull.

Studies such as this one inform my research and development for my large, multi-year graphic novel project, Occupation: The Long Shadow. The project centres on my Norwegian grandfather’s written accounts of his time as a POW from 1942–45 in Norway (including Grini), Germany, and Poland.

I am exploring different visual storytelling approaches and am currently interested in emulating the style of the secret sketches created by Norwegian artists such as Bratlie, Odd Nansen, and Herman Willoch, who drew a portrait of my grandfather at Oflag XXI-C (Schokken) on June 18, 1942. I am also doing a deep dive into the secret crafting projects (embroidery, knitting, and sewing) created by women in Grini concentration camp, as well as resistance crafts and symbolism.

I raise my cup to the tenacity of the human spirit to create and to record. To ART AS RESISTANCE. I do not take it lightly that I sit here in my apartment with my coffee surrounded by books and art materials, with the privilege and freedom to express and explore.