Korrespondenser (2009)
2009, 12 textile banners, 150 x 210 cm, textile paint
Korrespondenser (Correspondences) is a site specific work developed for the group exhibition and pedagogical project Eternal Return in Falun, where young artists from the region were invited to return and show what they work with today. The project, curated by Kajsa Pontén and hosted by the cultural association and exhibition space Magasinet, was a collaboration with municipality and schools that took place during one week in October 2009. It was visited by 3000 secondary- and highschool students and approximately 500 other visitors, who also took part in lectures and workshops held by the participants.
Korrespondenser is based on a displacement between public and private communications and spaces. I painted quotes from letters written by Selma Lagerlöf to her mistress and friend Sophie Elkan, on textile banners, evoking the idea of book pages, or sheets of paper or fabric. The intimate and passionate messages, written between 1894 and 1904, were installed along the façade facing the railway station, and along the same wall inside the exhibition space. Selma Lagerlöf spent forty years of her life in Falun, a cultural heritage for the city to take care of. While researching for the work I was intrigued with the writer’s alternative way of living, and her ability to combine this with a more conventional and professional appearance, adjusted to her time. The geographic and thematic placement of the work – in proximity to the train station and to various aspects of traveling, longing, belonging and displacement – were equally important starting points.