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We each have our own ways of expressing ourselves, approaching the image through different techniques and working processes. What unites us is the landscape, both as a presence and as a memory, and the way it reappears in our visual worlds. The image emerges in this encounter – between what we see and what we remember. The familiar place is shifted through the gaze and takes on a new meaning. Memory becomes image, and returning can open a path towards something new.
In Annette Hammarén’s graphic works, nature takes on enigmatic and shifting qualities. The landscape and the sky are constantly changing. Her starting point is often a nearby and familiar place – a forest, a grove, or a stream that runs close by and is associated with memories and meanings. During the creative process, the familiar landscape can transform into something else: the forest becomes impenetrable, the pond deep and dark, or the stream transforms into a rushing torrent. Nature is not merely a landscape, but part of all the places she carries within her. Hammarén works with both painting and printmaking, allowing these techniques to meet and complement one another.
In Nina Kerola’s visual world, there is a stillness in which emptiness is not an absence, but rather a charged presence. The landscapes are open and stripped back, like winter terrain after the leaves have fallen, revealing the spaces in between. It is there that the spaces become visible and memory takes shape. Kerola is interested in spatiality, boundaries, and the way we move through different landscapes – both external and internal. In her images, she encounters her younger self, but also something larger. Amidst the seriousness, there is often a glimpse of something playful, a quiet humour that lingers in the expression. The silence in the images carries an echo of a melancholic “Finnishness” – a subdued poetry in which the unspoken is given room.
Annette Hammarén (b. 1956 in Stockholm) is a visual artist who lives and works in Vallentuna, north of Stockholm, Sweden. She was educated at the Royal Institute of Art (Kungliga Konsthögskolan) and Konstfack in Stockholm, and regularly participates in exhibitions in Sweden and internationally. Annette Hammarén’s works are represented in regional and municipal collections throughout Sweden, as well as in museum collections, including Moderna Museet and the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, and the British Museum in London.
Nina Kerola (b. 1965 in Turku) is a Finnish–Swedish visual artist based in Stockholm. She studied at the Pori Art School, the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm (Kungliga Konsthögskolan), and Konstfack. Kerola has participated in numerous exhibitions in Sweden and internationally. Her works are held in private and public collections as well as in museum collections, including Moderna Museet and the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, and the British Museum in London. Her works are also included in the collections of international printmaking triennials and biennials in Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Belgrade. In addition, her work is represented in the collection of the Douro Museum in Portugal.