Linnéa Sjöberg’s artistry is characterized by a dedicated research practice wherein her own life conditions are continuously hypothesized and put to the test. In performative projects lengthy enough to border on personal life chapters, the artist has immersed herself in roles such as the striving business woman in Gtds4810 (2009-2011) and the unruly tattooist in Salong Flyttkartong (2012-2014). Cloaked in these characters she has gathered information concerning the implications of identity formation. In a chapter ending of sorts this information is processed and accounted for in the form of physical manifestations as varied as vacuum-sealed clothing, cardboard collages and intricate textile weavings executed on a traditional loom by the artist herself.
On view in PANIK are a number of woven works bursting with color and detail. The art of weaving, which has come to be a signature of Sjöberg, has a comforting origin in her childhood and more specifically her grandmother’s rag rugs that were woven together by the family’s old clothes. Similarly, Sjöberg’s own weaving has functioned as a way of presenting memories and archival material. The outfits previously worn during aforementioned Gtd4s810 were torn apart and woven into columns of professional blues and greys. The darkly toned 14-meter long woven piece titled Four Generations of Darkness (2016) consists of gathered materials found in the attic of her childhood home.
The woven pieces seen in PANIK contrast these previous works. Observable are motives and compositions suggesting a narrative and technical growth and perhaps even more so, a liberation of sorts. The color scale is generous and energetic, and the woven works are adorned with figurative motives and attached pieces of clothing. The last few years have brought with them a newfound personal focus for the artist. Secluded in her studio, weaving became something closer to a self-governing form of expression, rather than a recording of the past and performed.
Sjöberg’s weaving continues to reflect her artistic research, currently through elements (motive and material) collected from an ongoing immersion in BDSM. In this practice bondage-techniques become a form of ritualistic body-binding dubbed “Package play” where experiences of limitation and freedom are explored. These sessions are retold in Sjöberg’s works where materials that have been close to the body are woven into textile landscapes that also depict sensory words related to touch and intimacy, elements that are decidedly close to the living now.
Linnéa Sjöberg (b. 1983, SE) lives and works in Berlin. She holds an MA from the Royal Institute of Art.
