At the beginning of the year, the Swedish government commissioned the Public Art Agency to produce a permanent building-related artwork to be placed at the cultural centre Hanaholmen, as a gift on its 50th anniversary. Now it has been decided who has been commissioned to create the work: the artist Olof Marsja.
– I often work with questions and feelings that are connected to my identity as both Sámi and Swedish, and how they are often forced to confront each other. However, as an artist, I embrace the gaps that emerge at the intersection of worlds, Olof Marsja says.
Olof Marsja is a Swedish sculptor, born in 1986 in Gällivare, raised in Malmberget and Luleå, who lives and works in Gothenburg. He studied at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design from 2014 to 2017. In his work, Marsja draws inspiration from his background in duodji, Sámi crafts, everyday life, medieval art, comics and myths. He often links industrial and organic materials when creating his sculptural characters. The work, a 150 cm high bronze sculpture, will be presented during a ceremony at Hanaholmen this autumn. It will become part of Hanaholmen Art Park, where works by internationally renowned Nordic contemporary artists meet visitors all year round.
– It was winter in many of the images I saw from Hanaholmen Art Park, where Lars-Gunnar Nordström’s temporarily placed sculpture looked out over the sea that was covered in ice and snow. It reminded me of my ski trips between islands in the Luleå archipelago when I was growing up. I felt the taste of hot chocolate, the smoke from the fire and how the spring-winter sun warms the body and mind. The snow, the forest, the sea, the expanse and the skis symbolise freedom and opportunities. And in my mind, I see how the sculpture I make for the place is a skier holding a ski pole in one hand and shading his face with the other, with his eyes fixed on the horizon and towards the future, Olof Marsja says.
The activities at Hanaholmen aim to promote cooperation and exchange between Finland and Sweden and were created after Sweden in the late 1960s remitted a large part of Finland’s remaining war debt. In 2025, the activities at Hanaholmen will celebrate 50 years.