December, 2022
Lotta Antonsson, born in 1963 in Varberg, belongs to a generation of artists, schooled in the 1990s, whose work early on was influenced by postmodernist and feminist theories. Antonsson’s later works repurpose collected photographic material from the 1960s and 1970s, which are processed, cut into pieces, and reassembled into collages. The female body, a motif that Antonsson constantly returns to, is often presented as fragmented and organically interlinked with natural materials, such as shells, stones, and driftwood.
Antonsson’s work Monika (2021), was on view in the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023 as part of our group exhibition In the Eye of the Beholder. Curator Sofia Ringstedt has spoken to Antonsson about the work in relation to the exhibition’s theme – beholding, either oneself or someone else.
Sofia Ringstedt: Your work Monika is a fragmented collage of photographic material representing the 1960s icon Monica Vitti. Who was Monica Vitti to you?
Lotta Antonsson: Monica Vitti was an exceptionally versatile actress, both ethereal and cool at the same time—and she became a symbol of sorts of integrity with her sublimely stripped-down acting style. In my eyes, there is no one better than her in portraying the existential emptiness of people who undergo internal development. The manner and method of her acting fascinate me—using subtle, low-key means, almost reduced to silence, to express something huge, existential, and emotionally vibrating.
SR: In Monika, as in many of your works, we viewers are not allowed to meet the gaze of the subject. Could you tell us something about your choice to cover Vitti’s eyes and teeth?
LA: As you say, I have many times used different objects, usually shells or precious stones, in different works to cover the eyes or mouths. I see it as symbolically creating a kind of inner space, to some extent a blank space or gap between image and viewer.
In the work Monika, that would be the fluorite crystals that lie over the eyes and across the teeth. Green raw stones that guard her gaze. To view or to be viewed. Or maybe even to view what it is to be viewed. Fluorite also has a spiritual significance in various cultures, where it is claimed to be a gemstone that opens up the intellect, transforms negative energy, and heightens receptivity to creativity. Covering the eyes of the deceased with objects, such as shells, coins, or pebbles, is historically and culturally also a reminder not to fear the inevitability of death. Simply a guard. Against fear.