Maria Friberg
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"Belonging II", 2010
Signed Maria Friberg and dated 15 April 2011 and numbered 2/25 on label verso. C-print mounted to aluminum 69 x 95 cm.
Provenance
Fotografiska Galleriet, Stockholm.
More information
Friberg tillhör den generation av konstnärer som slog igenom under 90-talet och som tidigare benämnts ”det nordiska miraklet”. De uppmärksammades internationellt för sin höga konstnärliga klass. I dag räknas Friberg till en av landets mest betydande fotografer och videokonstnärer. I verket "Belonging II" lyfter Friberg diskussionen kring masskonsumtion och västvärldens sätt att utarma jordens resurser. Så här skriver Maria Friberg själv om sitt verk:
"In a world defined by consumption, we are what we own. In “Belonging”, we see a small boy sitting on a heap of toys. It is a documentary portrait, in the sense that all the objects are the child’s own, but above all, it is a metaphorical image about consumption and excess.
In the Western world, children are constantly exposed to commercials for toys. Cheap plastic toys are imported from China and distributed for free at fast food restaurants. Generally, they will break in a few days and be replaced by new things. Sometimes, presents are given as a compensation for lack of time and affection.
At such a young age, children are already introduced to the rules of the consumer society. They learn that things are easy to come by and expendable. This is in stark contrast to the conditions in less fortunate societies.
The scale was the starting point for the photograph. The amassed toys are several times larger than the boy himself. The title raises questions about consumption as an expression of personal identity."
Artist
Maria Friberg was a Swedish artist who primarily worked with photography and videography. Her primary theme was masculinity, whereby she investigated the traditional male adopted roles and its properties which has through history been defined as "masculine". Since her breakthrough in the 1990s alongside other female photographers who were educated at Gothenburgs photography school, Friberg has offered his growing audience enigmatic, powerful, and imaginative staged images of men. They float tranquilly in pool water, are squeezed into cars, sometimes sleeping among white sheets, or only their lower halves are visible as they sit in suits at a table. She works with staged photography and often uses art historical references. Friberg likes to work in series, varying a motif across multiple works. Some of her most well-known series are "Still Lives" and "Almost There."
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