Elin Karlsson
I am a Swedish artist based in Sussex, UK. I work mainly in sculpture and writing but often wander into textile, drawing and photography. I continually seeks to express experiences of sexual violence within a domestic environment that is as unsafe and threatening as it is intimate and funny. I describe my work as ‘bodged’ as it is often rushed and fragile, made with stuff I have lying around - bits of wood, old bed sheets, canvas prints and cardboard boxes.
In 2021 I was awarded a funded residency at the British School at Athens. My writing has recently been included in Poetries of Maternity published by Intellect, Language- Based Artistic Research Group. I am a PhD researcher at UAL where I am working to answer the question: The Art of the Bodge: How can feminist art methodologies detach from sexually produced violence to define subjectivities in sculpture and writing?
contact[at]elin-karlsson.co.uk
EDUCATION
2016- PhD (practise based), University of the Arts London, UK
2012- 13 MA Photography, University of Brighton, UK
2009- 12 BA Photography and Media Arts, University of the Creative Arts, Maidstone, UK
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS, PERFORMANCES AND PROJECTS
2022 A Cloth Over a Birdcage, Gallery Dodo, Brighton, UK
2020 Collemacchia Beacon, The Museum of Loss and Renewal, Italy
Unfolding Narratives, PhD work in Progress, LCC, London, UK
The Body Catches Itself, The Daily Trumpet
2019 Picturing the Invisible, Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Art, London, UK
Light Bearer 2020, Jakob Kroon Galeri, Worthing, UK
Portico, British School at Rome, Rome, Italy
The Jam in Bellfield (reading), Chelsea College of Art, London, UK
2018 Made For Life, Regency Town House, Hove, UK
Last Resort Conference Centre, Worthing, UK
2017 The Best Mess, HUTT Collective, Nottingham, UK - Solo show
2016 Unwriting, Colonnade House, Worthing, UK
Life is On, Jakob Kroon Galleri, Stockholm, Sweden - Duo show
2015 Whatever You Say I am, That’s What I am, Unit 8, Brighton, UK - Duo show
The Heart Grows Fonder, Format Festival, Derby, UK
2014 72Gallery, Tokyo, Japan - Group show (curated by Photobookshow)
Familiar Constructs, Gallery 40, Brighton, UK - Solo show (curated by Sunil Shah)
Unit 8, Platform Gallery, Brighton, UK
2013 /World, Grand Parade, Brighton, UK
Festival Diep, Dieppe, France
2012 Fine Art Media, The Rag Factory, London, UK
In Search of Place, George Rodger Galley, Maidstone, UK - Graduate select show
Along the Lines of..., Lucy Bell Gallery, St Leonards on Sea, UK
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2021 Residency at British School at Athens, Greece
2020 Taking Time, The Museum of Loss and Renewal, Italy
2019 Mead Rome Residency, British School at Rome, Rome, Italy
Writing Retreat supported by UAL, St- Malo, France
2014 Forest Residency, Stour Valley Arts, Kings Wood, UK
Danny Wilson Memorial Award (short listed Curators’ and Professionals’ choice)
2009- 12 U-Creative Scholarship, UCA
FEATURES AND PUBLICATIONS
2020 Practise Sharing, Language- Based Artistic Research Group
LCC PhD Profile, online interview
2019 Unfolding Narratives, video catalogue
X Marks the Spot - Self published
Mead Rome Residency, UAL Post Grad Community blog
2018 The Jam in Bellfield - Self published, edition of 20
2014 You Can See, 'Elin Karlsson' by Jessica Macdonald
The Quiet Lunch, 'The Prologue’ by John Gosslee
Elin is the co-founder of Jakob Kroon Galeri and serving as trustee of Photo Fringe.