SHORT BIO
Karin Brygger is a poet and essayist. She has written 8 books, the latest a book of essays released fall of 2023 ”De blinda I Venedig”. She is at WAP as both artist and writer. Her The Scrolls Project will be a part of the group exhibition ”Lövhyddofesten” at Simrishamns Konsthall (vernissage 30 September).
2024 she will release a book of Jewish female Heroines at Natur och Kultur with her co-writer Anneli Rådestad and illustrator Joanna Rubin Dranger (illustrator).
Karin Brygger writes regularly in Judisk krönika, the only Jewish magazine in Sweden and can be heard holding service on Swedish National radio during the Jewish Holidays. She also is an associate professor of Arts, Media and Storytelling at Skövde University. She holds a Master in Creative Writing and a Master in Literary Studies. She is working on her Phd. Literary Studies, Gothenburg University,, Sweden.
PROPOSED WORK
Brygger will hold two walks at WAP that both are tied in to her research. The first one holds the working title "To gather is to remember" and the second one holds the title "Walking Jewish History". In addition she will join the group for program and continue to explore walking in her practice.
Studio 5
Sept 4-18
karinbrygger.com
About this page: this page shall be viewed as documentation of some small parts of my participation and time at WAP, not an artwork in itself.
Some of the photos on display here (the b/w) are documentation of one of the groups first explorative walks in the surroundings of Björkö. I call the photos "The Scrolls Project: extended".
The photos depict my fellow artists at the residency writing a testimony on the scrolls I brought, a testimony of us being just there, at that particular moment. To do so was an unexpected activity stemmed from the talk that evolved as we walked; a talk on place, traces and testimony and women's testimonies throughout history. How does women take place in the landscape, how do we leave traces, how do we show our presence?
Photos are taken by except one taken by Hayley Wheelan I believe.
During another early walk with Antonia Aitken we came to talk about friendship, landscape and politics of our separate countries. I found myself so interested in the talk that I did not take notice on where we walked but realized after a while that Antonia did. She read the maps, she new the direction whilst I had merely walked after her, trusting her knowledge to get us out of the woods and back to Björkö. This walk and the friendship established resulted in the essay "Att gå i Roslagen" (se photo) published in December 2023 in the well known magazine Arche (2023 86-87). I quote a short excerpt the essay here:
"Jag noterar att de andra är bra på kartor. Inte jag. Men att inte hitta är en sak, menade Walter Benjamin, att gå vilse en helt annan. Rebecca Solnit beskriver i essäsamlingen Att gå vilse. En fälthandbok hur Benjamins tänkande omfamnar, jag till och med framhålelr vikten av att vällustigt ge efter för ovissheten i 'vilse'. Det är helt enkelt eftersträvansvärt att låta sig omslutas av detta 'vilse' för när omgivningen- som - ordning bleknar blir närvaron starkare, viktigare. Att gå vilse handlar om att vara trygg nog att överlämna sig och att därmed existera på premisser som i dagens samhälle är ytterst impopulära, nämligen i osäkerhet, öppen för mysterier. Osäkerhet bör man väl i detta sammanhang tolka inte som 'i fara' utan som 'med tillit', och att vara 'öppen för mysterier' kan vi förstå som att vara 'öppen för det vi inte känner till, dem vi inte känner men skulle kunna lära känna'. Det handlar sålunda om att inte stänga dörrar, och se det senare som en möjlighet.
Benjamin menar att detta psykiska tillstånd är möjligt at uppnå genom geografi. Det rumsliga har makt att förändra oss inuti. Men, vill jag tillägga, det är endast möjligt att uppnå det där tillståndet om vi har möjlighet att stå i dialog med omgivningen."
Color photos:
1. Me reading a scroll inspired by Richard Serra for Antonia Aitken.
Photo: Antonia Aitken.
2. Necklace I made by a gift of treads given to me by british artist Rebekah Dean. The gift reslutet in a photo-series that is not on display here. I have also written a suit of poems to each photograph.
The photo of some of the treads untangled is also taken by me. Such is the one on the necklace.
3. A piece of wood that I found at WAP and my walk "To gather is to remember". Fellow artist Antonia Aitken immediatly spotted the crying eye that wind and time has carved into the wood and thought it could fit into my projects on love and Jewish love letters that I have been working with for a few years.
The piece of wood/The Crying Eye became a part of an installation called "The crying eye/Blessing of my life" that became a part of the Sukkot exhibit at Tjörnedala konsthall (fall 2023).
There i also placed an apple on the wood and placed it beneath a tiny, tiny scroll with an excerpt of a letter Hanna Arendt wrote on her wedding. To a man she did not marry that day.
"Do not forget me and do not forget how much and how deeply I know our love has become the blessing of my life. [...]"
4. The Scroll/Blessing of my life (photos by me)
5. Some documentation from my presentation, held at the night of arrival.
6. A self-portrait on the day I was leaving.
Note: As a poet I often work slow. Much of the work I begun at WAP are at this stage (late fall 2023) in process. Our common walks and common work at WAP I keep in my memory and return to as I ponder over my how my own work will turn out, what paths it will take in the future. What is seen here is merely fragments. During my stay we were only female artistis and that created thoughts on women and landscape.
