Dea Svensson | Inland

”I examined my inheritance, my fate.
Strewn with rocks and stones was the farm we had.
My father gave his back and his legs
for this silent, grey, grim stone.
When I began to understand
This would never turn out well.”

(Wild Grass from Kristina from Duvemåla)

Dark Småland. Poverty. The compact darkness of the forest and hopeless cultivation in rocky soils. Hayfields, stone cairns, water lilies over bottomless lakes.

But there are also mythological and fabled visions; the animated nature. Trees with arm-like branches and glaring birch bark eyes. Movements of beings between trunks and thickets.

In my drawings, I leave paths to safely get lost in the forests and fairytales of my childhood. I draw using forgotten illustrators’ and architects’ main tool before the dawn of computerization: the Isograph pen. It provides a precise ink flow and thus completely lacks the character of the feather pen. However, the control and the purity of the Isograph are irresistible and captivating. Ink is accessible and transparent, everyone understands how the drawing is made and the work acquires an educational quality.

Slowly, carefully, strictly, and thoughtfully. The image is given time to be created and viewed, a place where time stands still and the wind does not blow.

/ Dea Svensson, 2021

Dea Svensson (b. 1980) grew up in Eringsboda, on the border to Småland, and holds a master's degree in Fine Art from Malmö Art Academy 2005-2010. His work has previously been shown in solo and group exhibitions in southern Sweden, most recently in the exhibition "Skogen som tror den ska dö" at Galleri108 and "I slutet låg en äng" at Galleri Sagoy in Malmö. His works are represented in Skåne County, Ronneby Municipality and Kalmar County.