Ana Mendieta: Covered in Time and History / Jumana Emil Abboud: The Horse, the Bird, the Tree and the Stone / Roger Metto: Cryosphere

Ana Mendieta: Covered in Time and History
Blood, fire, earth, water and her own body: Ana Mendieta’s poetic and striking works from the 1970s and 1980s are a delicate balancing act between vulnerability and strength. Bildmuseet presents her captivating oeuvre through 21 films as well as a selection of photographs, graphic works and objects. It is the largest presentation of Mendieta’s artistry shown in Sweden to date.

Ana Mendieta (1948–1985) drew inspiration from many of the movements of her day—Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Land Art, performance and feminism—but the special combination is entirely her own. The acuity of her works inspires artists and audience today, making her art still relevant and important.

Covered in Time and History at Bildmuseet is an extended version of an exhibition produced by the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota. For Bildmuseet, it has been supplemented with works from The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection and Galerie Lelong, New York/Paris. Our thanks to Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.

Jumana Emil Abboud: The Horse, the Bird, the Tree and the Stone
Magical beings, spirits in wells and demons in trees and caves inhabit Jumana Emil Abboud’s multifaceted universe. Inspired by Palestinian folklore, she imparts new interpretations to stories and myths that she has collected. Through delicate paintings, poetic cinematography and oral performances, she explores personal and collective memories and what myths can tell us about ourselves, our history and the place where we live.

The exhibition at Bildmuseet touches on existential questions about identity, loss, longing and belonging. Abboud hails from her homeland of Palestine, but her work invites us to weave stories of our own.

Jumana Emil Abboud (b. 1971) was born in Galilee, grew up in Canada and lives and works in Jerusalem. Her work has been exhibited at venues such as the biennials in Venice, Istanbul and Sharjah; the Acción! MAD-Festival in Madrid; at Galeri Man, Istanbul; Baltic, Newcastle; and Kunstraum, London. This is the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Scandinavia.

Roger Metto: Cryosphere
Roger Metto’s magnificent mountain ranges and deep valleys rendered in an extremely intense range of colors, with features from the mountains of northern Sweden and the Rockies, resemble dreamland geographies. If human figures or buildings appear, they are small and insignificant against the backdrop of powerful landscapes.

The paintings depict the wilderness and fantasies about great adventures with references to memories from the artist’s early life in the northernmost town in Sweden, films he has seen, places he has visited or the smallness of humanity in the face of nature. In this exhibition, Roger Metto exhibits new paintings, most of them from 2017.

Roger Metto (b. 1964) grew up in Kiruna and lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. After studies at the Royal Institute of Art, he has had numerous exhibitions and public commissions. He is represented in several of the country’s major art collections, including those of Moderna Museet, Stockholm and the Gothenburg Museum of Art.