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Emma Bäcklund

MA work

Care ( On the Other Hand.. )


Care (On the Other Hand) lingers in-between structures of support and restraint in relation to body, form and image. Bodily limitation is explored through the frame of the photograph; a space for both opportunity and boundary. That which appear still is moving at full speed.

The word Care is soft but carries weight. One depend and is being depended upon. The hands of the other can both heal and repress. Sometimes the hands of the other suggest a dual relationship with the self. 

The performance On the Other Hand.. is part of the work which takes form of a wooden structure with massage chair parts. Within these structures lay two bodies separately. It is an exploration through endurance and tensity within stillness. For 30 minutes, (which often is the duration of a massage session) the performers bodies are held within the form. There is a vulnerability within this stillness which inhabit control as they are observed without being able to meet this gaze. Power relations are suggested between the support structure, performers and the audience’s gaze. 

Info

  • MA Degree

    School

    School of Humanities

    Programme

    MA Photography, 2017

  • Emma Bäcklund is a Swedish artist based in London. Her work concern interests in restraint related to the body and cultural structures. Ideas of obstruction aim to question how forms and bodies adapt to change, environment and ideals. 

    Working in a process of re-contextualising objects or bodies they become detached from initial milieu to become dysfunctional because of this shift. What is an image-body?

    With a background in dance, interests in the body and spatiality continue to influence her ideas with focus on balance and distribution of weight. The physical relationship to images are essential in her process of making. Printing images in the darkroom is a large part of her practice as well as using elements of sculpture and performance. There are slippages between image, object and subject.

  • Degrees

  • BA Photography, London College of Communication, University of the Arts, 2015; Foundation Art and Design, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, 2011
  • Experience

  • Gallery assistant, curator and organiser of events at Lychee One Gallery, February 2015 - March 2017
  • Exhibitions

  • Group Show: "At Home She’s a Tourist", curated by Tom Lovelace, Copeland Gallery, Peckham 24, London, 19th – 21st May, 2017
  • Awards

  • Otto and Charlotte Mannheimer foundation - 2016,; Artist in residence at Arts Letters and Numbers, New York, US, August 2016
  • Publications

  • Curved Spine, self-published, 2017; Moving Mountains, self-published, 2016