The Exhibition That Says Thank You!

Photographer Ronny Østnes has portrayed those who keep the hospital running, every day, quietly. The exhibition Thank You! is a tribute to kindness, community, and people who choose to be something for others.

For two years he has imagined it. Now the exhibition hangs here. The dream, which once existed only in his mind, has become reality.

— This is the most important exhibition I have done, he says, and lets the words linger in the air.

Photographer Ronny Østnes stands still. Lets his gaze drift across the images swaying gently in the breeze. He looks at them with a kind of quiet reverence.

A tribute to the Norwegian healthcare system

The exhibition is called Thank You! And that is no coincidence.

— I wanted to create an exhibition about values. Kindness is a value I believe we talk far too little about, he says.

It is that kindness he has captured. Not the polite, superficial kind. But the quiet, effortless kindness that arises in encounters with patients and their families. The kind found in corridors, staff rooms and operating theatres.

Where people entirely deliberately choose to be something for others.

— Healthcare workers are not like superstars. They do not ask for attention. And yet they are there, when everything else falls apart. When the hundred problems you carry around suddenly come down to one.

Who will help me now?

From pandemic to portrait

he idea began to take shape after the pandemic. That time when hospitals stood in the eye of the storm, and the rest of society — perhaps for the first time — understood what healthcare work truly demands.

— It struck me how easy it is to forget them again. But they never forget us. They go to work every day for people they have never met before.

In Thank You! we meet both surgeons and cooks, chaplains and porters, cleaners and nurses. For Ronny, it is not about individual stories, but about the whole, about the chain of people who keep the hospital running.

— A cook put it so beautifully: "I could have worked anywhere. But here I feel that it matters."

Powerful conversations

There have been many conversations along the way. Good conversations. Several have made a strong impression on the photographer. The nurse in the palliative care ward, who described how her work had made her at peace with life's final journey.

— She met patients where they were and in doing so, she also met herself. That made me reflect. Perhaps that is precisely what we should all practise more. Meeting people where they actually are, not where we would prefer them to be. Perhaps then we would also become better at taking care of ourselves.

Another encounter that left its mark was the conversation with the hospital chaplain who said: "To meet another human being is to be kept awake by a mystery."

— Wasn't that beautifully said? Almost poetic.

For is that not what life is truly about: Trying to understand the people around us? To dare to be curious, open to what we do not quite understand. All too often we judge. Perhaps out of fear. Perhaps because the unknown unsettles us a little.

Thank you! To the community

That the exhibition became more than a vision in his head, he credits to several: the Kavli Foundation, all staff at Haukeland University Hospital, the City of Bergen, and a group of dedicated enthusiasts who gave their time and belief to the project.

— Finances were an obstacle for a while. But when the Kavli Foundation said yes, I knew it was going to happen. Then everything fell into place.

For a moment he stares blankly ahead, as though he cannot quite grasp that the exhibition has actually become a reality, even though he is standing right in front of it.

— I received great help from the hospital's communications department. And the photography club BEKKALOKKET, they showed up and hung the pictures as volunteers. It would never have happened without them.

A photograph larger than itself

Ronny hopes Thank You! will be the start of something bigger. That the portraits can hang in more cities. That more people will want to work in healthcare. But above all:

— I hope those who are portrayed feel seen. That they feel lifted up. That people passing by stop for a moment, look at them and think: You matter!

About Ronny Østnes

Ronny Østnes (b. 1973) is an award-winning photographer and communicator with a master craftsman's certificate in photography and over 30 years of experience. He is known for his powerful portrait work and his involvement in art projects with children and young people across the country. Østnes has exhibited at, among other venues, KODE, the Storting and Grieghallen, and has held over 60 solo exhibitions.

His work is characterised by intimacy, warmth and social engagement. Alongside exhibitions and book publications, he regularly gives lectures and workshops, and has been an important voice in arts and cultural outreach in Eastern Norway and nationally.

Facts about the exhibition Thank you!

Thank You! is a tribute to the Norwegian healthcare system through 40 portraits of employees at Haukeland University Hospital. Photographer Ronny Østnes brings forward the people behind the roles — those who provide care, reassurance and vital help every day. The exhibition conveys gratitude, closeness and respect for a professional group that often stands in the storm.

The exhibition Thank You! is on display at Lille Lungegårdsvannet (facing KODE) throughout July. Free and open to all.