You’ll obviously find ink in every library and tattoo, but on Molde campus you’ll also find tattooed librarian Anja Sletten.
WHO? Anja Sletten (37) is a librarian at Molde University College. Her dream of working for the library and archives of NRK TV led her to study library and information sciences at Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus. However, life dealt her a different hand. Two and a half years ago she moved to Molde – close to her Midsund home – and started working in the library on campus. She is moving to Kristiansund with her fiance in February to start working as a KOM Kultur trainee. The librarian also has an interest in raw power lifting. She currently competes for the club in Fræna, but will be initiating her own power lifting club in Kristiansund with the help of some friends and their training facility.
WHAT? The story commences when she was 18. Finally being old enough to get tattoos, she and some friends hitchhiked to Trondheim. A tribal black sun on her hip, drawn rather unprofessionally, is now a reminder of where all of this began.
Anja now has between 40 and 50 hours of ink work on her body, favoring old school style tattoos. Her left arm has a full sleeve in Japanese style, complete with coy fish and waves, by the artist Pero. An anchor and a rose accent her chest. Her right leg has a classic sailor girl tattoo made by Jimmy Duvall. The other leg was drawn by Sacha Lenhe and consists of a cowboy in Paul Newman stance and three horses.
WHY? Contrary to popular motives, Anja is not one of the people who gets tattooed to tell her life stories. That’s not to say that they have no meaning; she is fascinated by cowboys, and the anchor is a tribute to her fisherman father. But she has a strong interest in the art behind tattoos and realized she had no chance of becoming a tattoo artist herself. She chose to get inked to display the art she loves from artists that she respects deeply.
As Anja explains, «It’s very important for me that the artist helps design it and can be proud of his work. I think they do a better job then.»
The proof of this quote is evident through all of the beauty encapsulated in her tattoos. See for yourself.
