When my father died it was like a whole library had burned down (2015)
Susanna Hesselberg (Malmö, Suède)
Scarcely visible on the horizon, a library plunges deep into the abyss of an underground shaft. The riveting sight invites further exploration, but the wealth of knowledge and poetry we could fall into remains out of reach. The title references song lyrics by Laurie Anderson to evoke the all-consuming pain of losing a loved one. This buried library, not unlike a tomb, reflects the mourning for transmission interrupted, for knowledge now lost, irrevocably and forever.
This work was produced in collaboration with EXMURO arts publics.
Susanna Hesselberg’s work uses surrealist mise-en-scènes to subvert our notions of reality, and she frequently explores the motif of the book to represent the boundless possibilities of the human imagination. She is represented by School Gallery (Paris), and has exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea (Aarhus, Denmark), Paris Photo, and the OpenArt biennial (Örebro, Sweden).
EXMURO is grateful to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Conseil des arts du Canada for its financial support.
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