Ongoing project Human Nature
In the research project ’Human Nature’ Emilia Bergmark is creating a series of large narrative tapestries portraying the postindustrial nature of Scandinavia. The ambition is that the research project will become a solo exhibition in 2023 and during her time at the Danish Art Workshops in Copenhagen she works on the digital TC2 loom to create the first tapestry in the series with a motif of wild flowers. Bergmark is interested in the modern history of the meadow, an inherently anthropocentric type of landscape with a rich flora and fauna. A habitat to wild flowers and insects. But, the meadows are rapidly disappearing from the landscape as traditional farming with grazing animals and haymaking is replaced with industrial large scale agriculture. With them a rich biological diversity is lost.
The material used is Swedish wool dyed in the eighties by the artist’s mother, using flowers and plants of the local flora in Sweden where Bergmark grew up. Letting this material, with a history so tied up to the motif itself, Bergmark portrays the wild flowers of the meadow. She creates a narrative tapestry that is a portrait of a landscape through its flora, and a portrait of time, by way of the changes to that flora.
Supported by Statens Værksteder for Kunst
Supported by Svensk-Danska Fonden