Fucked up beyond recognition
St Pancras Crypt, London, 2019

“If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear”
Köttinspektionen, Uppsala
20.01 - 04.02 2018

“What could not be expected in the country of eternal light”
Galleri BOX, Gothenburg
27.04 - 27.05 2018

“I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding-night”
Konsthallen Väven, Umeå
01.09 - 07.10 2018

In connection with the novel’s 200th anniversary, the nine members of the artist group VERKLIGHETEN worked under the theme “Frankenstein’s monster”. The exhibition series explored the many sides of the Frankenstein-theme through film, sound, photography, drawing and installation. The artworks brought up topics such as archives, contemporary monsters and experiments in nature that have gone wrong.

THE BUBBLE FLOATS BEFORE, THE SHADOW STALKS BEHIND
Installation, video 2018

The book Frankenstein begins with a series of letters from scientist Robert Walton - to his sister. In the letters he describes how he in the middle of the polar ice meets Victor Frankenstein and they become good friends. These letters and letters from Mary Shelley and her friends inspired me and during a year I wrote many letters to Mary. Some of these letters together with photos and videos from my own archive became this film. A film that permits my own and Marys life to meet on many levels and topics.

Umeå, August 25th

Dear Mary,

There are so many questions – so many things that I want to know more about.

I´m following your steps and I´m lead astray. I have created an imaginary landscape and now I must find a way to navigate in it. Life and memories exist between my words and my imagery.

Old places, restlessness, a longing for something else.

But this is not the full story.

The whole summer I have been listening to Kate Tempest, over and over again.

But we are still mythical.
We are still permanently trapped
somewhere between the heroic and the pitiful.
We are still Godly,
that’s what’s made us so monstrous.
It just feels like we’ve forgotten
that we’re much more
than the sum of the things that belong to us.

X X X Helena

the last two photos from Galleri Box: Hendrik Zeitler