This year's recipient of the Nordic Award in Textiles is Norwegian artist Gunvor Nervold Antonsen. The exhibition displays works from recent years in her powerful style, where two- and three-dimensional objects in various materials and techniques meet in expressive installations.
Nervold Antonsens art is characterised by free experiments with two- and three-dimensional objects using different materials and techniques. Textile installations, paper, crayon, painting and embroidery meet wood sculptures and other objects she has found or collected. Together, they create three-dimensional textile paintings, often in large formats that the audience can enter into and meet with. Her works have a powerful personal expression, and deal with existential questions regarding life and death, nature and culture, time and space. A recurring theme is the relationship between man and nature.
The exhibition at the Textile Museum has been given the title Hybridenes poesi, alluding to an exploration and attempt to create connections between the material and immaterial – between experience, reflection and form. The word hybrids refers to an apparently disorganised condition in which something new can arise – a form of process of opportunities that is manifested in Nervold Antonsens expressive installations. The exhibition primarily shows works from recent years, but also some older patchwork quilts from the Textile Museum of Swedens collections that have inspired the artists textile creations. Nervold Antonsen argues that textile materials have a special ability to act as bearers of history through their connections to the past, politics and gender. Through the textile, the close and intimate can be linked to broader narratives of humankind. An audio artwork allows visitors to share in the artists reflections and narratives, and helps to link together the various works.
Gunvor Nervold Antonsen has studied at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design, and is well-represented in public collections in Norway. She has received several art awards and government scholarships, and has also been involved in professional politics. The Nordic Award in textiles is the largest award for textile art in Northern Europe and is presented to textile artists who are active in the Nordic countries. The exhibition is co-produced together with Stiftelsen Fokus Borås, which also funds the award. The exhibition is a step in the Textile Museum of Swedens ambition to promote contemporary textile art by being a permanent venue for exhibitions and activities related to the field.