Märta Mattsson: Confrontations 2012-2013 | 2

The “Confrontations” lecture series is being organized at Sint Lucas Antwerpen in the context of the current research project "UnScene".This project was initiated by the Jewellery Design | Silversmithing department and focuses on new presentation contexts for contemporary jewellery. It offers a platform for the presentation, discussion and exploration of the notions of “showing” and “displaying” in various media. 

As part of this exercise, Märta Mattsson has been invited to shed some light on her artistic practice and experience in this matter in a lecture.


Märta Mattsson was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1982 and has studied jewellery art at HDK-School of Design and Crafts in Gothenburg, Hiko Mizuno College of Jewellery in Tokyo, Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and at the Royal College of Art in London. Since 2007 her work has been exhibited in several international group and solo shows.

’My jewellery deals with the tension that lies between attraction and repulsion. I take seemingly inappropriate materials, making ordinary and familiar objects seem extraordinary and unfamiliar. In the 18th century many new breeds of animals and plants were discovered and it was the main era of cabinets of curiosities. People collected rarities because it gave them the feeling of being in the presence of something extraordinary and marvellous. In a world where not many new and exotic breeds are discovered I use dead creatures in my pieces to evoke wonder. The creatures are transformed and reborn; given a new life as objects of astonishment.’

- Märta Mattsson