Emma Robertsson (°1990) is a Swedish multidisciplinary artist based in Umea, North Sweden. After her graduation from the Royal Academy of Arts in Antwerp in 2019, she moved back to Sweden to nurture her connection with her family, nature, and the cultural traditions she inherited. She longs to create a community aspect in her work, inviting a meeting with ‘the other’ and sharing.

The three drawings hung in a triptych shape before the ‘Altar’ installation by Filip Harna and Anna Zanichelli, reference cathedral paintings of medieval times.

Depicting wolves in the rawness of the Taiga, these drawings reflect on the archetype of the mother. The relationship between the mother wolf and cubs shows a duality of nature: these cubs came from within herself, but are they wanted? 

She gives, while the cub only takes, inching her closer to her destruction and death. This mother figure can be seen as the creator and destroyer of the universe, of herself, and the life she conceives. She is a female primal goddess, highest on the food chain, potentially eating her child.

The artist employs mythification and Swedish folklore tales to strengthen her connection to her cultural heritage and her inside and outside world. Her approach contrasts sharply with a feeling of a lack of connectedness experienced by many today, caused by a loss of cultural affinity. 

The cartoon-like depictions of her stories are shaped by the materials she employs. She uses playfulness as a primal connection to her childhood and upbringing. A world filled with irony and wittiness, while the joke and the truth are perhaps between the two.