The Unloved
An exhibition by Felicia Honkasalo and Sam Williams
With an accompanying text by Johan Höglund
At Anatomigården, Rådhusgata 19, 0158 Oslo
Opening 25 September 2025
17:00–18:00 Screening and Q&A with the artists (Held in English)
18:00–20:00 General opening
Exhibition dates: 25 September – 26 October 2025
Open Wednesday–Friday, 12:00–16:00, or by appointment
Contact: office@praksisoslo.org
Free entry | No step free access
Supported by Nordic Culture Point and TAIKE
The Unloved gives a starring role to a plant largely deemed undesirable by humans: a “weed”. Sometimes melancholic, sometimes mischievous, they articulate their own history and desires. They recount highs, lows and opportunities missed during their existence as a revered healing plant, a troublesome pest, a scientific specimen and popular figure in art and literature. They assert their self-worth and challenge the ways people categorise and attempt to control the natural world.
The exhibition runs for a month in the loft at Anatomigården, one of Oslo’s oldest buildings. The interior loft space-–the underside of a tall pitched roof—echoes the film’s spectral and Gothic undertones: a fitting environment for a story of hauntings and resilience.
Honkasalo and Williams reimagine weeds not as nuisances to be eliminated but as presences that endure in the margins and persist despite the hostility they attract. In an age often described as one of endings—ecological collapse, social upheaval, the failure of human-centred systems—The Unloved suggests other possibilities. It invites us to focus on resilience and marginal survival and to reimagine our relationships with other forms of life. Its humour and theatricality soften what might otherwise feel apocalyptic, replacing fear with curiosity and estrangement with kinship.
Ultimately, The Unloved is a metaphorical call for recognition and solidarity. It invites us to look again at the multitudes in the margins—those deemed not to belong—and asks what it might mean to love the unloved.
Felicia Honkasalo is an artist based in Helsinki. Working with photography, moving image, text and installation, she explores the entanglement of myth, history and material culture. Her work has been shown internationally at venues including Ars Electronica, Linz; Turku Art Museum; Helsinki Biennial; and Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Sam Williams is a London-based artist whose practice explores species entanglements, ecological systems, bodies-as-worlds and folk mythologies. He uses collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches in combination with diverse media that include moving image, performance, collage, sound and writing. In 2018, Williams participated in PRAKSIS’s twether residency, Taking Hold – The Double Bridge. His work has been presented internationally at venues that include Chisenhale Gallery, London; Atletika, Vilnius; Arnolfini, Bristol; Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg; and UC Santa Cruz.
ABOUT PRAKSIS
PRAKSIS is a transnational platform for art, research and learning based in Oslo, Norway
PRAKSIS was established as a charity in 2015. We connect diverse artists, thinkers and publics to Norway’s creative ecology via thematic programmes that focus on urgent issues of our time. Dedicated to inclusivity, we seek to inspire and support artistic creation, bringing new creative networks and communities into being. Our core activities include organising and running artists’ residencies, staging public events, youth programming, online and in-print publishing, and we recently launched a podcast.
PRAKSIS places peer-to-peer dialogue at the heart of its approach. Our projects respond to the needs and concerns of creators, art professionals and socially-oriented organisations across borders and disciplines. Since PRAKSIS’s founding in 2016 we’ve worked with over sixty partners ranging from national museums, universities and leading art centres to wrestling clubs and autonomous activist networks.
PRAKSIS aims to demystify cultural production. Our public programming offers insight into creative processes and debates, seeking to enable the widest possible engagement with creative practice.
PRAKSIS is run by a small, dedicated team, currently made up of 2.5 full time positions. Most of us are Oslo-based artists and writers. All of us bring international connections and perspectives to our PRAKSIS roles.