Drip Drop by Märta Mattsson

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Märta Mattsson

While working in my studio, I listen to books, podcasts or music, and I am easily moved to tears. Sometimes they cloud my vision, making it hard for me to see what I am creating. My hands, trapped in latex gloves, cannot wipe away the fluid spilling from my eyes. In a way, it is a fitting metaphor: I pour my blood, sweat, and tears into my passion and into my art.
/ Märta Mattsson

The drop has long been a powerful symbol in jewellery and far beyond. It appears in many forms, each heavy with meaning: the beginning of life, nectar sustaining other life forms, semen as a symbol of fertility, the tear as a sign of mourning, fleeting beauty, and transformation. In this exhibition, Märta Mattsson focuses on the drop as it falls, merges, evaporates - a reminder that our bodies are in constant change and renewal.

The exhibition is organized with support from the Swedish Arts Council and Region Jämtland Härjedalen.


Märta Mattsson (b. 1982, Stockholm) was educated at the Royal College of Art in London and the School of Design and Crafts (HDK) in Gothenburg. Her work has been exhibited in Sweden and internationally since 2006, with over 20 solo exhibitions. The exhibition at Galleri Smedjan is her first solo show in northern Sweden. Mattsson’s work is included in the collections of, among others, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.
 
Galleri Smedjan is a new initiative for art jewellery and craft, based in Östersund in northern Sweden. Galleri Smedjan is founded and run by Sanna Svedestedt.