Verbeia (2025) - The Cell, Stockholm
brass, nordic gold bronze, nasturtium seeds, wood, lichen, jasper, shells, clay dust

Exhibition Text:
The Venus of Willendorf, the 30,000 year old carved female figure, is one of the oldest surviving examples of stone age art. Even in these primitive times, the earliest craftspeople could produce skilled carvings using just stone tools. I fantasise about the psyche of the ancient people who created and carried these objects. Collecting shells or carving stone and other simple materials that they would have easily found around them that they believed would give them good luck, good omens, connecting them to the elements and landscapes that they so heavily relied on for survival. They were living in a world that looked very different to ours yet our brains are still wired much the same. We are now, however, expected to live under circumstances and stimuli that our ancient brains have never developed to cope with. In the piece Verbeia, I have incorporated my own messy lore, my own talismans, memories, natural objects that I have found that tie me forever to a certain place and landscape. I am, like the ancient people, trying to ground myself to something – to the land, to a sense of belonging, to an understanding of something much bigger than myself. It is my futile, desperate attempt to protect myself from what is coming beyond the horizon, the dark unknowns of my own and our shared human nature.