Snövit Hedstierna Explained

Snövit Hedstierna
Birth Name:Mina Linda Snövit Hedstierna
Birth Place:Stockholm, Sweden
Education:Concordia University
Known For:Visual Art, Performance Art
Website:http://www.snowwhite.se

Snövit Hedstierna is an interdisciplinary artist, film director, art curator, art writer and university teacher. Her subject matters include power structures, gender issues, existential questions and intimacy.[1]

Education

Snövit Hedstierna holds a Master of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and a degree from Valand Academy in Gothenburg, Sweden. She holds further formal qualifications in related fields such as photography, communication and advertising.

Approach

Her work frequently includes and builds upon the lived experience of non-conforming individuals ("in the periphery"[2]), which she re-contexutalizes using established artistic frameworks such as film, photography, performance and dance. She seeks to transcend formal categories of artistic expression by creating experiential spaces that engage the audience in a variety of sensory and conceptional modalities, most notably intimate touch.

One of her most influential works incorporates extensive sociological research: over a period of 3 years, she conducted 250 in-depth interviews with female/queer/ transgender and gender fluid individuals from all Nordic countries.

Subject matters

Her work has focused on gender rights as a main topic since 2013, beginning with her graduation show from Valand Academy where she displayed the photo series Practices of Looking, and the related group performance Another View, which was considered controversial for its depictions of nudity.[3] [4] Snövit Hedstierna has created several exhibitions where the audience has been invited to participate in different ways. One was her thesis show at Valand, To Give and To Hold, a 48 hours long durational performance where the artist offered her body as spoon for anyone in the audience saying "she rather spoon with someone than shoot someone" as a comment to the growing otherness in society.[5] During late September 2015 Snövit Hedstierna exhibited a one-on-one performance and installation in the "Dream a Dream" solo show at the Abteilung für Alles Andere. The artist described the exhibition as "A guided sleep meditation in an experimental and transcendental environment, now and forever."[6] [7] During Manifesta11 in Zürich 2016, she performed the piece A source of Values in which the audience were invited to wash her naked body with a sponge, soap and water. She exhibited the video installation Sisterhood at the Pane Per Poveri pavilion at The Venice Biennale 2015 (La Biennale di Venezia).

Notable exhibitions

Between 2014 and 2016 Hedstierna conducted the three years long research project An Issue of Structure, in which she compared The World Economic Forum's "Global Gender Gap Report" and the FRA-report with in-depth interviews from 250 female/queer/ transgender/gender fluid people, to shed light on personal experiences of gender and gender affiliations in the Nordic countries. The work resulted in several installations in so called "episodes" that the artists exhibited between 2016 and 2017 around the Nordic Countries.[8]

During mid September 2015 she exhibited in Los Angeles alongside artists such as Kim Gordon, Kathleen Hanna and Barbara Kruger as she participated in Jessie Askinazi and Rose McGowan's Yes All Women art show, named after the

  1. YesAllWomen
hashtag.[9] Hedstierna contributed with photography and also with the epic performance You Are Not Alone which got reviewed as "bare and gutting".[10]

During 2018 she again participated in Manifesta12 in Palermo by showing the piece Achievement of falling at the collateral event Politics of Dissonance. During 2018 the artist worked on the production of four new feature films within the speculative dystopian sci-fi genre, accompanied by a VR-movie released in September 2018.

Earlier exhibitions include Manifesta12 Politics of dissonance,[11] Norrtälje Konsthall,[12] Mengi (Reykjavík),[13] Malmö Konsthall,[14] Skövde Konsthall,[15] Göteborgs Konsthall,[16] [17] Strömstad Konsthall,[18] Göteborg International Biennal for Contemporary Art,[19] and Norrtälje Konsthall.[20] [21] [22]

Activism

In 2017, the Swedish art magazine Konstnären published an open statement by the artist about her experiences of sexual assault within the art world, which evoked a larger debate. She has since been an active participant in the #metoo movement, focussing mainly on her experience within the Scandinavian art scene. She participated in several talks and debates in both Norway, Sweden and Denmark during 2017–2018.[23]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Snövit Hedstierna Talks About Her Art and Looking at Your Genitals. Carl-Johan. Ulvenäs. 14 October 2014. 16 December 2015.
  2. Web site: Snövit Hedstierna: Her practice often starts from existential, feminist and queer perspectives. 12 February 2019. Nora. Hagdahl. Nuda Paper by Jelena Loutchko & Pedro Cardoso. 28 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190328224447/http://nudapaper.com/snow-white/. 28 March 2019.
  3. News: Konstbråk om students nakenbilder. Schreiber. Johanna. 9 May 2013. Expressen. 7 November 2015.
  4. News: The Penetrating World of Snövit Hedstierna. Ulvenäs. Carl-Johan. 14 October 2014. Vice. 7 November 2015.
  5. News: Konstnär "ligger sked" med besökare. Spektra. 27 April 2013. Svenska Dagbladet. 16 December 2015.
  6. Web site: Abteilung für Alles Andere: Dream a Dream. 16 December 2015.
  7. News: Dream a Dream. Berlin Projekt. 16 December 2015.
  8. Web site: Snövit Hedstierna - An issue of structure. 11 June 2020. Norrtälje Municipality.
  9. News: Yes All Women: An Interview With Photographer, Artist and Social Activist Jessie Askinazi. 20 August 2015. Autre. 11 February 2017.
  10. News: How #YesAllWomen Became More Than A Hashtag. Miller. Kelsey. 26 September 2015. Refinery29. 16 December 2015.
  11. Web site: Politics of Dissonance. 6 July 2018. 20 August 2018.
  12. News: Snövit undersöker den svenska jämställdheten. Nordenberg. Helena. 7 October 2016. Norrtälje Tidning. 22 November 2016.
  13. News: Exhibition Tackles Gender Equality At Mengi. Smala. Signe. 17 October 2016. Reykjavík Grapevine. 22 November 2016.
  14. News: "24 Spaces – A Cacophony" at Malmö Konsthall. Contemporary Art Daily. 16 December 2015.
  15. Web site: Vernissage NORM.ALT. 13 September 2014. 20 December 2015.
  16. Web site: Kvinnokön på konsthall. 15 May 2013. 20 December 2014.
  17. News: Konsthallen – Frames and stages – Akademin Valand, masters i fri konst. 22 May 2013. Göteborgs-Posten. 20 December 2015.
  18. Web site: Strömstads kommun snövit hedstierna - pressmeddelanden. 6 July 2014. 20 December 2015.
  19. Web site: GIBCA Extended Teaser. In connection to Göteborgs kulturkalas, participants of GIBCA Extended present videos, performances and music at the roof terrasse of Mornington Hotel. 15 August 2013. 20 December 2015.
  20. Web site: Årets utställningar. 11 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151205140810/http://www.norrtalje.se/info/se-och-gora/norrtalje-konsthall/arets-utstallningar/. 5 December 2015. dead. 20 December 2015.
  21. Web site:
    1. METOO, men #NOTSURPRISED
    . 11 September 2015. 20 August 2018.
  22. News: Current Nordic exhibition allows you to walk through gendered power structures. Anne. 6 November 2016. Art Reveal Magazine. 20 August 2018.
  23. Web site:
    1. MeToo mærkes i kunstverdenen
    . 20 August 2018. 6 December 2017.