This project began with a simple idea: coming to Norway to paint in a neighborhood I didn’t know.
I arrived with a few ideas, but I wanted the place itself to shape the final work.

When I had the chance to ask people from Jammerdalen about the area, I received handwritten answers, scanned letters responding to three questions about memory, sounds, smells, history, and everyday life. Reading those answers was magical. Months later, meeting some of the people who wrote them gave everything a deeper meaning.

The candle appeared again in my work. I’ve drawn candles before, but here it found its true meaning: life. A long candle, a long life.
As the mural progressed, my first Norwegian autumn -winter arrived—less daylight, shorter working days, and many candles glowing in windows. That’s when I truly understood the word cosy and this beautiful way of welcoming winter, of saving energy for spring. Saint Lucia—the return of light, even in the night of the soul.

I realized that light doesn’t come only from candles, but also from color. The purpose of this mural became clear: to bring light to a darker place. Two candles, like seeds, opening space to grow community between old and new neighbors, under the shelter of this bridge.

This gathering is to thank everyone who contributed—through time, conversations, coffee, chocolate, cookies, ideas, tools, spaces, unexpected visits… and also the cats and dogs who came by to say hello.

And the message is simple:
Don’t let anyone DIM your light. Listen to your breath—it’s like the sea.

Thank you for being here.
Thanks to the climate for the lessons, and to my parents who traveled all the way here. This mural is also for them

PEACE.

comissioned artwork for stavanger Kommune

Okeda Vagabundo

Artworks