Coming to the Joan and Walter Mondale Galleri 

A Dying Norway—in a Living America? In 2025, it will be 200 years since the first organized emigrants left Stavanger, Norway, and eventually settled in the Fox River area of Illinois—home to small towns like Norway and Stavanger, IL. Traces of Norwegian language, culture, and traditions still remain, but they are gradually fading with each generation.

This photography project is a portrait of that area—its people, its buildings, its landscapes, and the details that still carry echoes of Norway. It documents both the visible and invisible remnants of a cultural heritage, and how a small but dedicated group of individuals continues to preserve nearly 200 years of tradition.

Lars Idar Waage, the photographer behind the project, worked as a photojournalist in Norway for 15 years. This is his largest and most personal body of work. The project began in 2015 with the 2025 Emigration Anniversary in mind. After losing his job in 2016, he continued the work independently, finishing the final series in August 2024.

The photographs exist in the space between art and documentary—with an observant eye, a factual tone, a touch of nostalgia, and often a subtle sense of humor. The project began with a simple curiosity: What became of the Norway that crossed the ocean? And how does it look today?

This is the third U.S. stop for the exhibition, which will conclude in New York in the fall of 2025. Visitors in Minneapolis may recognize many of the images—in language, food, traditions, or stories. Because even though culture evolves, it continues to live—in many forms, on both sides of the Atlantic.