Cabinet of Curiosities, 2021
Sizes around 20 x 20 cm. Papier maché, wood, silk, polyester tulle, sweet water pearls, glass beads.
A collection of twelve mini sculptures in textile and papier maché. Site specific work for Norra tornen, Stockholm, as a course on the master programme CRAFT! at Konstfack
Site specific work for a luxury apartment at the top of Norra tornen, a recent development in Hagastaden, Stockholm. The placement at the top of a high tower, far above the rest of the city, gave the connotation to a fairytale context. I developed a collection of small, peculiar objects for a lonely man living at the top of the tower, as a collection of curiosities:
This work is made for a man at the top of a tower. He has long since lost touch with the world below, the world of the living, and is now trapped between white walls, lush carpets and the never less stunning view. It is always silent here, but for the buzzing of the traffic and the wind rustling by.
His one lingering connection to other organisms is his collection of curiosities; remains and fossils of creatures he keeps for display on his marble table. Through his collection, he can still feel the touch of skin and the beating of another heart. He recalls the way a woman would tie a bow in her hair. He’s captured it, all of the despair of being female, the fruitless attempts at adorning oneself into a real woman.
These items have hoped to one day enter into self-hood, but are doo- med to forever be othered, as conversation pieces during stale dinners against the Stockholm sunset. As the man looks at the pieces, he sees the weight of existence staring back at him. And the tower trembles with his power.