‘Phantom Islands’ was a site-specific solo exhibition at Karantänen in Helsingborg, Sweden on view from 28th of October until 19 November 2023.
‘Phantom Islands’ is a mixed media exhibition investigating the elements of the urban environment, and the exact location of the venue ‘Karantänen’. The core investigation emerges from the artist’s fascination with the surrounding landscape, its transformative properties, and inspiring history.
Using various artistic techniques, the presented artworks were specifically created for this exhibition. The series of image transfers on canvas, woodblock prints on Japanese paper, drawings on semi-transparent mirror films, and the shape-changing installation, together activate the space and its energy. The exhibition resembles this vibrancy like the soul of this room, and it creates a window through time: a window to grasp memories imprinted on canvas, pieces of maps printed on paper, fragments of the landscape drawn on transparent films, and spatial structure that invades the space. One cannot say if these memories are real or fabricated. Through the interplay of light, time, and location ‘Phantom Islands’ creates a threshold between reality and fiction, where there is neither beginning nor end, just this fragile but extremely harmonious space and us.
The title of the exhibition was inspired by the term of a phantom island, a purported island that was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. Such islands usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions and are commonly the result of navigational errors or mistaken observations. The artist sees this term as an analogy to her artistic process: working with the existing fragments of landscapes which are purposely displaced, visually creating the non-existing territories.
Organized by Helsingborg Konstförening with financial support from Riksförbundet Sveriges Konstföreningar.
