Curatorial Notes - Carola Grahn

Attempting to summarise Carola Grahn's artistic practice proves to be much like encountering her work itself – at once immediate and challenging. Her art contains layers of time, everyday life, and life-altering stories; whispers of family alongside outspoken calls for structural change.

Grahn's works invite us to return, to look again, and to allow our thoughts to wander. Deeply rooted in rich portrayals of people, life, and relationships, the content of her work is often deliberately unspoken in the way one’s encounter with it is staged.

The defining narratives underpinning each work have, piece by piece, been distilled into a carefully pared-down visual language – one that is equally present in her most expansive and playful works. There is no excess here, no element that does not serve a purpose, and no predetermined interpretation. Described in words, it is an unmistakably Sámi world view for an artistic expression that refuses to be confined to any single or simplified definition.

Those of us who have had the opportunity to work with Grahn know that there are few aspects of her practice that have not been meticulously considered, and that chance rarely plays a role in her process. At the same time, her works carries an openness in which our own interpretations and reflections are given space.

Grahn accomplishes something that far from every artist manages to do with such apparent ease – and something that is no easier for a Sámi artist, who is so often superficially assigned a shared cultural history and motivation. Within Grahn's highly specific narratives, space is created for universal recognition and for magically compelling visions of the future. It is difficult not to think that this ability also carries an inherent sense of existing in several worlds at once, or perhaps, at times, not feeling entirely at home in any of them.

As an artist, she is not always easy to categorise, and in an art world where neither time nor space seems sufficient for anything beyond simple narratives of belonging and uncomplicated notions of community, it is precisely this quality that makes Grahn's work so vibrant – and for many highly elusive. Where, in her work, is the Sámi artist? And what opinions may be expressed about her art without diminishing the complexity and richness of her artistic practice?

Never quite knowing what to expect from Grahn's work creates a sense of tension – an unavoidable feeling that something is slightly unsettled, yet never allowing us to dismiss what we encounter. In her ability to offer the unexpected, her works leave us slightly uncomfortable, in a way that awakens curiosity and allows the encounter with the artwork to accompany us beyond the gallery space like a lingering premonition.

Grahn does not anticipate in her creation what will come next. Instead, she points out the direction and leads the way. Her works are never safe, and challenge our own assumptions about the world as we know it. For an artist who safeguards her integrity by standing her ground, refusing to back down, it’s a constant process of learning to keep doing new things, never repeating oneself must occasionally be exhausting, and being ahead of one's time can at times be lonely. Grahn's energy – her determination, as both a person and an artist, always to move forward – is palpable throughout her work.

Grahn's artistic practice is one of resistance and renewal, growing stronger with every new project and every new challenge together with an ability to trust her own instincts as an artist, a warrior, a mother, a daughter, and a visionary.