Original artwork description:

My works are cast in panels using standard wall filler.

This work deals with the grief and stifling trauma that I and many Swedes felt in the wake of the murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986. But I was young and soon started my life, becoming an artist and raising a family. It is only in later years that I realised how it profoundly, yet imperceptibly, changed the conditions of the life and society I knew. In many ways, it was the final nail in the coffin of the Swedish welfare state, known as “folkhemmet.” The security I felt growing up disintegrated into the harsh neoliberal reality we now experience.

The shape in the image can resemble a dark tunnel or a cave. The murderer disappeared into Tunnelgatan with the opening to the underground passage through Brunkebergsåsen. This work is inspired by a trilogy by author John Ajvide Lindqvist, featuring a mythical twist on the assassination, with an ancient evil residing in the depths of the ridge.

The shape also reminds me of an artificial cave where I grew up. It was dark, and you couldn’t see where it ended from the entrance. After a few years of curiosity and speculation, my friends and I finally found the courage to explore it. It wasn’t very deep. Today, the entrance is sealed off.

There is a theme of lost innocence in this work. But at the same time, I think the Swedish Workers Party, which dominated most of the twentieth century, perhaps wasn’t that innocent. One might say they struck a deal with the devil by compromising and coexisting with capitalism. It could never last.

Materials used:

Filler on board, pine panels, dried roses, cotton string

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