“My artistic practice is rooted in the experience of a fractured language and cultural identity. Like many Sámi people, I do not speak my ancestral language; an unbroken line was severed in my case. The colonial wound still stings in both body and soul. It came to a halt here. It became a full stop. As an artist, I try to remember those who walked before me, honor the dead, and at the same time look ahead. My work is to create a sculptural language that speaks of the place both before and after that full stop, mending the wound as best it can. Here, traditional craftsmanship meets contemporary materiality. Through combinations of materials and techniques, I create hybrid entities that engage questions of identity, cultural heritage, and the presence of the body within a sculptural landscape that moves between the personal and the collective.”
Olof Marsja (b. 1986, Sweden) lives and works in Gothenburg. Recent solo exhibitions include Accelerator, Stockholm; 1646, The Hague; Örebro Konsthall; Dalslands Konstmuseum; and the Sámi Center for Contemporary Art, Karasjok. His work has been presented at institutions including Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York; Kiasma, Helsinki; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm; and Göteborgs Konsthall.
