Dressing-room Story

Remember the gymnastics in nine-year compulsory school when you had to be naked in the shower with all your classmates? Probably all your classmates had issues with their own bodies in relation to current ideals. Helena Sommer has used this feeling by customizing garments to the bearer, so that they reveal their physical flaws.

»People always compare themselves with each other. I remember it as pretty tough times to show myself and be examined by others like that. I had a big birthmark that I was really ashamed of. I always tried to hide it with the towel. Many of my classmates didn't even show up from time to time. Neither did I when I got a little bit older.«

»Jewellery always have to relate to the body, I want it to relate emotionally as well. In more ways than that you are moved by the beauty of what you see. I wanted to show new ways of how people can adorn themselves. I have come to like my birthmark that I hid during the gymnastics. It is unique to me. My work is ›non-jewellery‹—like a reaction to silver and gold. I am saying one should adorn oneself with oneself.«

helene.sommer@konstfack.info

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Photographer: Andreas Nyquist