HABITUS – gemenskapens komposition (HABITUS: The Composition of Community) depicts a dress code that prevailed for a specific time at the Ljusbacken collective (where the artist grew up) in Delsbo, Hälsingland, Sweden and other progressive communities in the 1970s. For the members of the collective, the white cotton army underwear expressed group belonging, as it does in the military.
The work demonstrates how clothing, in different societies and contexts, has been used as a means of power and a way of signalling a specific affiliation and to reinforce a community. The title refers to Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, which describes how we create an image of another person and order the world around us in relation to ourselves.
Artist biography Joanna Lombard
Born in Algeria in 1972, Joanna Lombard lives and works in Stockholm. Educated at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Lombard works with film, photography, installation, text and sound. Her point of departure is often observations and stagings of personal experiences.
