flämtande skog (gasping forest)
flämtande skog (gasping forest) (2019)
photography, 119 x 89 cm, FineArt Print
sculptural installation, pine tree branches, cyanotype
Edition of 7, various formats
Photography in collaboration with Axel Öberg
flämtande skog (gasping forest) is an installation, formed by seven wood sculptures made out of fallen branches of pine tree. The branches have been coloured blue through the technique cyanotype, and composed together as the word "breathe" in seven languages: Swedish, Arabic, Persian, Kirundi, Finnish, Korean, and Tigrinya. Besides the fact that some of those languages are common amongst people whoo seek refuge in Sweden, they are also the mother tongues amongst the students in the 7th grade at Storå skola, who collaboratively built the sculptures with Hanna Wildow. In the work flämtande skog, the words have formed the basis for an exploration of language as a tactile material; something we can touch and be touched by, aside from its meaning. Shapes and lines unfold and are brought together in repeated attempts to depict the border between the illegible and the legible; between belonging and exclusion, and between the reasonable and not making sense.
In the photography the sculptures have been installed as a portal on the border to a forest that has functioned as a poetic, political and ecological shelter during the collaborative work process. A respite from the increasingly violent borders of Europe; a magical site protecting us from the world outside; a room where the breath can grow. And, at the same time, our globes gasping attempts to survive, since the trees transform carbon dioxide into oxygen and thus help the earth breathe.
The sculptures are due to be installed in Lindesbergs kommun, Sweden, on the nature trail called Lindesjön runt (The Linde Lake Round), where they will become a public artwork and a permanent installation. Since cyanotype gradually fade when exposed to sun light, and since the sculptures are made out of untreated wood, they will eventually revert into disintegrated, decayed material. This will in its turn generate space for biological diversity and new life. The placement of the installation in its natural habitat can thus be understood as an attempt to give back something lent.
flämtande skog was made in collaboration with a group of pupils from Storå skola in Bergslagen, Sweden. The work was made possible by the support of Konstfrämjandet Bergslagen, Lindesbergs kommun, Region Örebro Län, Kulturrådet, Storå skola, Stripa Grufpensionat, and Stripabryggeriet. It has been performed n Gränseskogen, The Border Forest, in Lindesberg Kommun, Sweden, on May 18th 2019. The photography has been exhibited at Stripa Gallerirum in Guldsmedshyttan, Sweden.
photography, 119 x 89 cm, FineArt Print
sculptural installation, pine tree branches, cyanotype
Edition of 7, various formats
Photography in collaboration with Axel Öberg
flämtande skog (gasping forest) is an installation, formed by seven wood sculptures made out of fallen branches of pine tree. The branches have been coloured blue through the technique cyanotype, and composed together as the word "breathe" in seven languages: Swedish, Arabic, Persian, Kirundi, Finnish, Korean, and Tigrinya. Besides the fact that some of those languages are common amongst people whoo seek refuge in Sweden, they are also the mother tongues amongst the students in the 7th grade at Storå skola, who collaboratively built the sculptures with Hanna Wildow. In the work flämtande skog, the words have formed the basis for an exploration of language as a tactile material; something we can touch and be touched by, aside from its meaning. Shapes and lines unfold and are brought together in repeated attempts to depict the border between the illegible and the legible; between belonging and exclusion, and between the reasonable and not making sense.
In the photography the sculptures have been installed as a portal on the border to a forest that has functioned as a poetic, political and ecological shelter during the collaborative work process. A respite from the increasingly violent borders of Europe; a magical site protecting us from the world outside; a room where the breath can grow. And, at the same time, our globes gasping attempts to survive, since the trees transform carbon dioxide into oxygen and thus help the earth breathe.
The sculptures are due to be installed in Lindesbergs kommun, Sweden, on the nature trail called Lindesjön runt (The Linde Lake Round), where they will become a public artwork and a permanent installation. Since cyanotype gradually fade when exposed to sun light, and since the sculptures are made out of untreated wood, they will eventually revert into disintegrated, decayed material. This will in its turn generate space for biological diversity and new life. The placement of the installation in its natural habitat can thus be understood as an attempt to give back something lent.
flämtande skog was made in collaboration with a group of pupils from Storå skola in Bergslagen, Sweden. The work was made possible by the support of Konstfrämjandet Bergslagen, Lindesbergs kommun, Region Örebro Län, Kulturrådet, Storå skola, Stripa Grufpensionat, and Stripabryggeriet. It has been performed n Gränseskogen, The Border Forest, in Lindesberg Kommun, Sweden, on May 18th 2019. The photography has been exhibited at Stripa Gallerirum in Guldsmedshyttan, Sweden.