When artist Linda Persson was invited to develop a public artwork for Huskvarna Folkets Park she focused on the park as a place for leisure – for socialising, music, dance and laughter. The work Let’s Face It is a group of tall stone sculptures resembling features of the human face. Depending on where in the park you stand, that face might appear and take a peek at you. Open all year round, Huskvarna Folkets Park is a lively place offering a wide range of concerts, plays and festivals.
A tribute to humour, laughter, and the similarities and differences that bind us together
A surrealist sense of humour runs through Linda Persson’s work, relating to the history of human representation – a playful reference to song, laughter and grimaces. A double nose of polished and cross-hammered red granite rises out of the ground like a mushroom. A double tongue carved out of Halland’s gneiss stretches out on the grass, calling to the singing that takes place on the nearby stages. Capable of forming all the sounds of language, the tongue is a formless body part that also provides us with pleasures of taste and touch. The third sculpture is a black diabase double-sided eye, gazing forwards and backwards from atop its multi-coloured stone pillar.
Let’s Face It stands in a grove next to a path, which is used by people on a daily basis, running through Huskvarna Folkets Park. The path connects the stages and continues through the green glade. If you get close, you realise that the work is a place where you can sit down and relax. You can take a step back and, from a distance, observe the life of the park and explore the many textures and colours of the different types of stone: from polished smoothness to rough cuts. Adjacent to Huskvarna Folkets Park there are several places dedicated to children – a playground, pre-school, and schools. Let’s Face It creates a place to hang out for people of all ages.
With Let’s Face It, Linda Persson adds a playful and humanitarian artwork to the layers of history of Folkets Park. The work is a tribute to humour and laughter, expressions that bind people together and make us smile at our similarities and differences.
On Linda Persson
Based on readings of landscape, body and language, Linda Persson’s works are often expressed in sculptural and cinematic processes. She holds a BA and an MA in sculpture/sound from Chelsea College of Art & Design, London and Winchester School of Art, UK. She spent a year on the research programme Mejan Residens at the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm. Persson has participated in the Momentum Biennial (2017) and is featured in the book 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow, published by Thames & Hudson (2019).
A collaboration between the National Association Folkets Hus och Parker and Public Art Agency Sweden
The art project is a collaboration between Huskvarna Folkets Park, the National Association Folkets Hus och Parker and Public Art Agency Sweden. In 2020–2022, Public Art Agency Sweden produced three new public artworks for the Folkets Parks of Heby in Uppland, Björneborg in Värmland and Huskvarna in Småland. The artwork was completed and inaugurated in 2022.
