Butterfly Effects in Stockholm by Johanna Törnqvist

Artist list

Johanna Törnqvist

Valuable or worthless are concepts that Johanna Törnqvist addresses in different ways in her art. By working with materials that lack value, she turns the question of how we value the materials of our time inside out.

What is valuable and what is worthless? How do we view our assets and resources? Which materials will become the new raw materials of the future?

And where is the value, in the material or in the work of the hand? Through fusing, needle and thread, she processes and refines trash beyond recognition and creates decorations for both rooms and bodies.

In the exhibition Butterfly Effects, Johanna uses trash from healthcare; sleeves, hoses, syringes, pills, etc. By using this consumable material, she not only puts her finger on how we value the materials of our time, but also how we value the people of our time and their surroundings. Through fusing with wind and heat, she reshapes the trash into various organic shapes that randomly shape themselves into plants, flowers and insects that eventually develop into butterflies.

The theme revolves around how a small flap of wings on one side of the globe can create huge turbulence on the other. We are all involved in the destruction or preservation of life on Earth.


Johanna Törnqvist (b. 1968, Stockholm) was awarded the 2025 Härke Art Center Artist-in-Residence and Grant. The jury’s statement reads, in part: “It is fascinating to see what Törnqvist creates with a needle, thread, and fusing. In her hands, disposable materials, plastic, and packaging can become—anything!”


Contact information & press event reservations: yohannamaria@hotmail.com, 073-718 91 11