My paternal grandmother Astrid Almroth was born in the little village Malgovik, outside Vilhelmina in South Swedish Lapland. Her father, Sami forest worker Erik Robert Almroth, was a settler by the shore of lake Malgomaj. Little Astrid loved the fjell (mountain) Marsfjället ,that can be seen at the opposite side of the lake. This installation is an hommage to her. She later on moved to the town of Härnösand, but missed her beloved fjell for the rest of her life.
I have embroidered three large maps in white representing the height curves on three sides of the mountain. Below the maps, on the floor, lies a representation of the border between our world and the Underworld, situated below the fjell. The Underworld is inhabited by ancestors, spirits of different kinds and also by dark forces. The border is crafted out of birch bark – a traditional water proof building material that still breaths, and crocheted hemp yarn, a material used in Sami fishing nets during the Middle Ages according to written sources.
Portrit of a fjell was shown at Fiber Space Gallery in Stockholm 2021.