The strong affinity between Sweden and Japan may be rooted in how we relate to our natural surroundings, the landscape. I Know You – we know our woods, rocks, mountains and streams. My work Bones Skins Ties deals with the relationship between the human and non-human bodies, using materials found in my Nordic landscapes. We are tied to the land we live on, the water we depend on. The bones in our bodies are tied to the rocks and tree trunks around us, the skin of a tree resembles our skin.
Some of the materials were gathered during a residency in Kjerringoy, Norway; from beaches, woods and mountains, and some from my home; my garden, woods, and farming fields. |
OBLIGATORIUM, 2022 For the exhibition Öppna Dörrar (Open Doors), Gamla Hospitalet, Ulleråker, Uppsala Arr: Konstfrämjandet Uppland Textile, stoneware, sinew thread, paint. The three trees stand on a tiny hill outside the old mental asylum, Ulleråker. Loosely inspired by an image of an old strait jacket, I strapped the trees together, reinforcing the tension between them. A reference to the history of the Asylum and the institutions for mental care, with their elements of force and compulsion. If you zoom out a bit, it is a generic image of exercise of power, applicable to the behaviour of the swedish goverment regarding mining in Gállok, or to issues around artistic freedom and freedom of speech. By treating the trees as subjects, it also refers to the idea of the Rights of Nature. What right do we (our economic culture) have to impose huge changes upon other creatures, such as climate change or a sixth mass extinction? |
MEND I-III
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MEND IMEND III (Pietá) |