MUNTHE ART MONDAY: ELIN WALLENSTAM SJÖGREN
Please introduce yourself and tell us about what you do.
My name is Elin Wallenstam Sjögren and I’m a textile artist.
I’m a messy minimalist who loves objects and beautiful things but doesn’t have the patience for perfection. To be honest I find perfection a bit boring!!! But of course, secretly envy the ”clean girls” (at least some times).
I have a bachelor in textile art from HDK - Valand, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. When I was younger I loved to play dress up and could make my friends wear fabulous garments and climb the roof of our house - all for the perfect photo. That drive to create and capture moments is still as strong. I easily get into flow while working and more often then is good for me, forget to eat lunch, just to capture the light or the feeling I’m searching for.
I weave, tuft, do embroidery or play photographer; whatever works best for each idea. I prefer my object to be human sized, the body is always portrayed or present through its absence. It’s always about the emotional experience of being a human made out of flesh and blood, so very vulnerable to each other.
Elin is wearing Eileen pants.
Can you name some other female (artist) that inspires you and explain why they do so?
I have always been interested in how to create a home. How you can, through surroundings, communicate different atmospheres and emotions. I admire Karin Larsson and her home, Lilla Hyttnäs. Karin was married to the famous painter Carl Larsson but it’s been known later that in Lilla Hyttnäs she was the curator. It’s filled with her creations like unique lamps, pillows and tapestries. It’s the colours and combinations of colours at Lilla Hyttnäs that inspire me the most. And through Carl’s paintings I’ve grown up looking at these rooms. It’s a home filled with so much stuff but yet coherent. The colours make it calm but at the same time fun, unexpected and vibrating with creativity.
When talking about colour I also want to mention Evelina Kroon who is a swedish artist. With paint and tape she creates graphic patterns. She works with the square in repetitive patterns and unexpected colour combinations. I truly admire her because she can make something so simple and traditional as squares look new and captivating, you must check her out!
The colour I work with has become like a red thread. I work with colours that have flesh-like qualities. Colours that remind me of skin, flesh or a blush. I’m searching for the feeling of being exposed, vulnerable, stripped naked.
Elin is wearing Eileen pants and Sahnely jacket.
What has been the most challenging aspect of being a woman in the arts?
For me it has been all these babies I keep getting. They are completely ruining my conscience. Jokes aside, I feel no doubt about my priorities but it has for sure impacted my career.
AND all the alternating hormones. I hate to sound dramatic but the struggle with hormones is real. Pms and pain, it’s hard to navigate, has nothing to do with arts but just being a woman. Period.
Elin is wearing Sahnely jacket.
Could you explain more about how being a woman has affected your career?
The core of my artistry is to combine duality. To quote the Barbie movie ”to be a woman is impossible”. I’m a loud person who has no trouble opening up or saying my opinion. Yet I’m quite sensitive and care more about what other people think than is good for me.
I have thick skin yet I feel exposed and naked running around living life.
My art is about being both: minimalist and maximalist. Beautiful and a bit grotesque. Bold and gentle. Everything at the same time, and being unapologetic about it. Put it on a podium, redirect the spotlights. Being vulnerable is being alive.
What would you like people to notice in your artwork?
The beauty in the untamed, that’s the poetic answer, but I love when art makes you curious. When you can’t get it, in one glance. My personal favourite art experience is when you have to discuss it with your company and compare interpretations.
