Wildflower Tales
In the 1960s and 70s a demolition frenzy took place in Stockholm wiping out large parts of the city center. This got carried out by a strong modernistic idea of getting rid of the old in order to create a new and efficient city. A process that many cities undergo in cycles.
The suburb Vårberg, where I live, grew up simultaneously with Stockholms grande transformations. Two human made mountains were placed there, designed to resemble an amphi theatre. They were built of the demolishing material from houses, blocks and blowouts from the expanding subway system. The soil that covered the massive piles came from many directions. A flora that was versatile originated with time. Just like the whole area itself where people from over a hundred nationalities live today. The film Wildflower Tales is shot with 16 mm film on the mountains and then developed by hand with flowers and plants from the filmed locations during their cycle from May to August. A document of short scenes with landscapes, flowers, family and friends in simple poses pass by. A common quote from the urban planners in the 60s was the wish to create a new city for the new man. Decades later here we are, man and nature still caught in-between opposing forces in a milieu both created and suppressed.
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Sofia Romberg, she/her (b.87 FIN, Åland Islands) is an artist-filmmaker, freelancing scenographer and costume designer. She is educated at the University of the Arts and the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm. In her own artistic practice she explores our vulnerability and changeability. Connecting past events with the present tense, intimate life with common social or existential conditions. Moving image often works as the core in her installations, working both with digital and analogue techniques.
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She is currently working on a new project involving 16 mm film, plant processing and the camera Ben & Howell 70D. A device that was often used during early war journalism because of its sturdy construction. The project explores the remnants of the Bomarsund Fortress at Åland and the island’s status as a zone free from military use since 1856. What does the values of peace translate to today when military uprising is dominating she asks?
Images:
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Film Still Sequence Wildflower Tales
05-06
Landscape with Suns, Galleri Mejan (2024) Photo: Jean-Baptiste Béranger
