As a painter, I sometimes feel like a magician in a room. Not because I have magical powers but because there is something magical about the brush, paint, liquids and canvas. Sometimes I wonder who has all the power, me as the artist or the paint whose smell stays in my hair when I leave the room. The sweet and slightly pungent smell. It feels safe, like home, but at the same time disgust and irritation easily take over. The paint under my nails and on the cuticles never disappears. I tried to scrub it, but it is a permanent reminder of the walls around me.
Astrid Strömberg (b. 1990) is a visual artist and she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2020.
The artist’s work has been supported by the Kone Foundation and Svenska kulturfonden
