Recent works

• ‘Yesterday's Today and A Gesture of Oneself’ - In an interactive video construction the viewer is invited to intimately participate with the work. By using cultural constructions of sexuality and voyeurism the installation evokes adolescent dreams and cultural patterns.

• 1'Proud to be… (A song for the Nordic North)' - The work is comprised of a single channel video installation, exploring the patriotic atmosphere in a cultural clash between two nations. Using a well-known Swedish icon, Pippi Longstocking, the work explores the taboos of being ‘proud’ of your native country (Sweden) yet living in your adopted country (Australia) that is just reaching the boiling point of racial tension. The video portrays a woman wearing a bright red wig in plaits, softly delivering the Swedish national anthem (left speaker in Swedish, right speaker in English) overlooking the skyline of the Melbourne CBD at night. The interesting juxtaposition is born from the words ‘proud to be Swedish’. In Sweden you are easily viewed as a racist if these words are ever spoken, whereas in Australia these words are voiced literally everyday; the history of two nations becomes the crucial essence. The video is viewed in a recreated installation of a Swedish summer field with red toadstools, a typical Swedish reference, further enhancing and reinforcing the idea of nationality and iconology.

•1 'It’s like I speak another language’ - The viewer is confronted with a woman trying to communicate through a tank of water. As the video unfolds the woman is seen getting more and more frustrated with the spectator and after frantically trying to get her point across the woman disappears, leaving the viewer guessing what was trying to be said.

• ‘Every hit leaves a mark’ - A short video that explores the psychology of perception, presenting a suggestion of what goes on behind the social screen. The work is a performance of domestic tension and asks for a psychological reaction. The video shows a woman pinned down to a chair being assaulted by an unknown man, passively taking every hit. This installation is designed to bring a private environment out into the public space, introducing a voyeuristic aspect to the work.

• ‘Bazaar-Bizarre’ - An investigation into the cosmopolitan fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar and it’s targeting of women in Australia. This video installation comments on the stereotypical, superficial standards supported and marketed in today’s fashion magazines, telling us what we as women should strive towards yet in doing so undermining the very essence of female identity and sexuality. The video reveals a close-up of a woman’s face and her vigorously shoving magazine pages into her mouth with force, chewing away till the next image goes in and down... Are you really what you eat?

© 2007 Ulrika Holmlund