My fear of loneliness took root at a young age. Something else that is a constant presence within me is an attraction for the explicit and obscene. A combination of these two things—fear and pleasure—forms the core of my art practice, which I convey through storytelling and performativity.
I create scenarios with different characters and then reenact these in front of an audience. I make mechanical dolls as co-authors in my performances that also function as vessels where I embody my fears and pleasures. Kulturmannen for example, embodied my fear of men with cultural capital, but also the thrill of having an old, sexy, intellectual mentor.
The idea for my master’s project came when I was pregnant: to build a better version of myself, a supermum, a Moa 2.0. But becoming a mother was not what I expected. The project changed. Instead of focusing on Moa 2.0’s brain, it became all about her body. After the birth of my daughter, I felt like a device, a feeding machine and a stuffed animal for her, my body no longer belonged to me. This new body image and the memory of an old favorite toy, Chico, sent me in a new direction. Chico was a Little Monkey Lost, his body a mixture of realistic details in combination with fake fur. When you pressed his stomach his mouth puckered and released, like performing a kiss. Sadly, some metal-feather inside him broke and one day he stopped kissing me back.
The making of my dolls is a dynamic process in which I animate and build them simultaneously. They come to life. I thought Moa 2.0 was going to be my spitting image, instead she became a caricature with a tense posture, pointy shoulders, and cow-eyes. A container for a newborn mother.
Images:
01-03.
A Terrible Love Story, Galleri Mejan Photo: Jean-Baptiste Béranger
04.
Performance Photo: Christoffer Jansson
05.
Performance Photo: Vladyslav Kamensky
06.
Performance Photo: Jenny Olsson
07.
The Mother Project (2025) Video still, 15 min.
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The Mother Project (2025) Video still, 15 min.
09.
Documentation of the performance A Terrible Love Story (2025) PLA, acrylic paint, human hair, ping pong balls, LED diodes, fabric, cotton, zipper, foam rubber, rope and wig, scale 1:1 mirroring the artist’s body. Photo: Benjamin Zemui
