Mathilda Frykberg
Hunger & Thirst
Ukraine series
Vault behind vault
Turismo romantico
Kyrie eleison
Mediterranean sea
Look at the signs of the time
God is the source of light in all luminous objects
Biography
News
Letter
Vault behind vault
2022
Acrylic paint, soft pastel
50 x 70 cm | 25 x 35 cm
Exhibited at Sigtuna stiftelsen, 2022
Acrylic paint, soft pastel
50 x 70 cm | 25 x 35 cm
Exhibited at Sigtuna stiftelsen, 2022
On February 24, 2022, time stood still, and nothing will ever be quite the same again. War broke out. Since I have close family members in Ukraine, everything comes to a bit of a standstill – work, creativity, friendships. I am on sick leave in the forest. A cat resting, stretched out alongside my body. Pink evening sunlight filtering through the windblown pine trees. Warm daily showers. A book.
And alongside all this: air raid sirens, bombs, terror. Nothing can be understood. There are no words, and at the same time, all the words exist at once.
Despite everything, I have finally begun drawing creamy, wild church interiors on colourful paper. A kind of meditation on Tomas Tranströmer’s Romanska bågar (which I always think is called Romerska bågar, like the orange-flavoured chocolate). It is a poem that I know means a great deal to many people. For me, above all, it is a reminder that “You will never be finished, and that is as it should be.”
Learning to rest and learning to cope with all this darkness is a lifelong task. I paint church interiors with richly ornamented domes and think about private, inward religious practice as an all-encompassing source of comfort in the midst of darkness. It can take place beneath a dome just as well as beneath a canopy of leaves or on a dance floor.
Somehow, this is the only thing I can grasp amidst it all. The universal significance of suffering and the human capacity to endure nonetheless.
Solace, time, light.
– 2022.03.19