EMMA HOLMGREN

Born 1992

"The body is central to my work, and serves as both a tool and a vehicle for experience. Through action, movement and physical interaction, I explore what it means to be human. My body is my pen and my tool for telling stories from reality in clay.

My current focus in my degree project at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design is on the many ways in which you can draw. My inspiration is Yoko Ono, who wrote ‘Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings’. My own interpretation is that it contains different ways of drawing. In my current work, I explore an interaction between two people. One of them sits in front of unfired clay and draws based on what the other one is drawing on their back. This project will evolve into drawing with the body using cords attached to my body, with magnets that go to a magnetic field with a sheet of paper on it. As my body moves, the movements will be drawn onto the sheet. See the adjacent sketches."

Currently studying for a bachelor’s degree in Ceramics and Glass, Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design

Photos: Emma Holmgren, Anna Riedl

EMMA HOLMGREN

Emma Holmgren participates in the scholarship competition and exhibition with five drawings created 2024–2026.

Pencil drawing. Plaster. Clay.

1. The frustration
2. The space
3. Endorphins
4. Hope and trust
4. External link, opens in new window. Video: Hope and trust (link to Youtube) External link, opens in new window.
5.Video: I'm breathing, that's how I know I'm alive, 2025 (link to Youtube) External link, opens in new window.


Click on the artworks in the slideshow to see full images, or scroll down. It can take a little while for the images to upload. Enlarge the drawings by choosing zoom or full page via the tool box by each image.

THE SELECTION COMMITTEE'S MOTIVATION:
Through the skin of images, sculptural drawings are dug, moulded and kneaded in clay, rising once again. Emma Holmgren’s blind sculpture only becomes beautiful and true when the gaze is released and turned not outwards, as is usually the case, but inwards towards the memory of all the senses.

The frustration
Plaster, 2025. Original size 12x10cm
The space
Clay sculpture that has been cast several times in plaster, 2024. Original size 15x11 cm
The space
Clay sculpture that has been cast several times in plaster, 2024. Original size 15x11 cm
The space
Clay sculpture that has been cast several times in plaster, 2024. Original size 15x11 cm
Endorphins
Stoneware clay, 2025. Original size 16x10 cm
Hope and trust
Pencil drawing, from the sketch of metal and threads attached to my hands, 2026. Original size 141x90 cm