© Jonas Dahlberg Studio

A HEADLAND WHICH looks out to Utoya island, where 69 people were shot dead by Anders Behring Breivik three years ago, is to feature this poignant memorial to the victims.

It shows the headland of Sorbraten, which lies north of the camp on Utoya where extremist Breivik launched his attack on 22 July 2011, cleaved in two to represent the appalling loss of life that day.

The design from Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg has just been announced as the winner of the contest to find a fitting memorial of that day.

The judges of the contest said that Dahlberg’s proposal “takes the emptiness and traces of the tragic events of 22 July as its starting point”. The wound in the landscape reflects the violence of that day. They added:

Part of the headland will be removed and visitors will not be able to touch the names of those killed, as these will be engraved into the wall on the other side of the slice out of nature.

The void that is created evokes the sense of sudden loss combined with the long-term missing and remembrance of those who perished.

In a touching addition, the landmass which is taken away to create the void will be moved to a second memorial site at the Government Quarter in Oslo. It will be used to create a path between two of the buildings there, with the names of the eight people killed in Breivik’s bomb there the same day inscribed along the edge.

© Jonas Dahlberg Studio

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