Trailblazers is a series of ten unique, rotating sculptures, of which Public Art Agency Sweden has acquired three. The sculptures have been flocked and covered with synthetic hair that has been processed with a trimmer, scissors, heat and varnish in order to emulate various hairdressing techniques.
Keisu and Thuresson explain that Trailblazers may be read as a series of signs for spaces in which non-normative and non-binary desires are allowed to develop and be acknowledged. Spaces that have been created in a long queer tradition of developing platforms for care.
The artist duo describes Trailblazers as a continuation of Ravishing Beauty Salon (2021), a social sculpture and collective platform for makeup, hair and performance. The salon also served as an open stage for lip syncing, where anyone could explore ideas of identity, beauty, transformation and radical joy.
Artists biography Karin Keisu and Josse Thuresson
Based in Juoksengi, Övertorneå and Stockholm respectively, Karin Keisu (b. 1995) and Josse Thuresson (b. 1992) have collaborated since 2018. They received their MFAs from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm in 2022 and have participated in a number of exhibitions in Sweden and internationally.
