I was deep in the mines of the Public Domain Image Archive, looking for suitable images to use in Fata Morgana when I met Marie Høeg for the first time. It was a great first impression. In the first portrait I saw, she’s sitting there with a stately mustache and a suit, gazing off into the distance.

Marie Høeg queer photographer — Marie & a mustache

Next, it’s a photo of her and her brother. She’s dressed in a suit again, and he’s next to her in a long skirt and a ridiculous hat. They’re standing arm in arm, looking delighted.

The next image, she’s holding the paws of a little dog named Tuss, wearing a big black dress and staring into his eyes instead of the camera. So cute.

I had to know more about Marie and her work.

It turns out, she’s a lesbian and was a prominent Norwegian feminist, credited as having a distinct impact on the feminist movement in Norway.

Born in Norway in 1866, She lived with her partner, Bolette Berg in Horton, Finland. Both were photographers; they met in photography school and later opened a professional photo studio, Berg & Høeg Fotoatelier. They took the pictures they really wanted to take after hours at their studio, playing with gender and taking unconventional portraits for their time.

Marie was an outspoken feminist and had a big impact on the feminist movement, starting discussion clubs to speak to other women to encourage them to become politically engaged. In 1906, when Marie was 38, Finland finally granted women the right to vote. Norway followed, permitting participation in elections in 1913.

But homosexuality wasn’t decriminalized in either country until well after Marie’s death. In Finland, it became decriminalized in 1971 and declassified as an illness in 1981. Again, Norway followed and made homosexuality legal in 1972. Marie and Bolette did not hide their relationship, and lived together for decades.

Here they are posing, in a rowboat, rings on their fingers.

The photos were found hidden away in Lunner, Norway, at the couple’s farmhouse, only discovered in 1980. They were too provocative for their time, but looking at them now it feels like they could be from our time, too. Like they’re time travelers who went back in time to have fun and open a photo studio.

Marie and Bolette’s photos might be my favorite Public Domain Image Archive find of all time, I love every single one. Their photo collection is on display in Norway, titled Like a Whirlwind.

You can read more about them here:

https://monovisions.com/marie-hoeg-and-bolette-berg-biography-19th-century-gender-photographers/

https://fhochdrei.org/en/like-a-whirlwind-the-gender-plays-of-marie-hoeg-bolette-berg/