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  4. Two new exhibitions at Galleri Foajén: Traces of Angels and Northern Lights Kisses, a series of images without the Northern Lights

Two new exhibitions at Galleri Foajén: Traces of Angels and Northern Lights Kisses, a series of images without the Northern Lights

Together, Martin Eriksson and Mikael Fagerlund show works from their respective artistic practices.

A red and a blue car were parked on the street outside a white house in a yard.
Press image from Northern Lights Kisses, a series of images without the Northern Lights. Work by Martin Eriksson.

Eriksson works with photography where he explores details in public space in the series Northern Lights Kisses, a series of images without the Northern Lights. Fagerlund creates objects that express his interest in Nordic nature and how humans perceive it in the series Traces of Angels. Seeing becomes a central aspect in the work of both artists, bringing them together in an exciting way when Eriksson's starting point in everyday life ends up next to Fagerlund's focus on light and darkness.

Martin Eriksson was born in 1982 in Borlänge but lives and works in Jukkasjärvi. His series of images, Northern Lights Kisses, a series of images without the Northern Lights, are parts of a book project of the same name from when Martin and his family abandoned Stockholm in favor of Övertorneå. With a long history as a creative in the advertising industry, his private projects are often the exact opposite. Instead of elaborate images taken after days of location scouting, he is privately drawn to small, trivial details in public.

– There is often a tragicomic aspect to everyday life when you train your eyes to fetishize the normal, he says.

Mikael Fagerlund was born in 1955 in Ekenäs, Finland but has been living and working in Kiruna for a few years. In the series Traces of Angels, Fagerlund moves beyond sensory experiences to quantum physics theory and the poetic questions that lie in between. “Are those really shooting stars that we see? Couldn’t they be traces of angels flying across the sky and depending on the speed, the traces have different colors?”


Press image Traces of Angels. Work by Mikael Fagerlund.

The variability of light and nature in Kiruna poses a special challenge that has shaped Fagerlund's artistry. His objects express the Nordic nature and visualize the dialogue between light and color in relation to surface and depth. Only by walking around his objects and thereby exploring them can one understand their complexity.

Fagerlund's works can be found in collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, Budapest, Hungary, Gothenburg Art Museum, Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Puteaux, France and Espace de l'Art Concret, Mouans-Sartoux, France, Willhelm Hack Museum, Ludwighafen, Germany, Museum moderner Kunst, Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria.