Cultural Identity & Visual Arts | Oslo City Hall Features Murals by Renowned Norwegian Artists

In this interview with Sigrun Myrmellem, she shares her personal story and insights on the history and traditions of local Norwegian culture, including:

• A description of the public art collection of Oslo City Hall, which depicts Norwegian history, values, and traditions.
• A discussion of specific painters and works of art that describe key historical events and cultural movements, such as Norwegian Constitution Day, Nazi occupation in Norway during WW2, and much more
• An overview of Norse mythology and its cultural significance
• An exploration of how Norwegian Art serves as political and social expression

Expected Learning Outcome:

This lesson includes clear expected learning outcomes that support students in understanding cultural identity through first-person perspectives, while building intercultural awareness and connections between individual experience and global traditions.

• Students will identify and describe key cultural practices and beliefs from the lesson’s focus community (i.e., Norwegian culture).
• Students will articulate insights into their own cultural identities and how those identities relate to what they learned.
• Students will analyze how cultural expressions (like visual arts) reflect values, history, and social traditions.
• Students will compare perspectives across cultures while finding similarities and differences through human themes.
• Students will make connections between cultural traditions and broader global contexts (visual art, preserving art and history in the present world), showing critical thinking about identity and intercultural understanding.