Pamela Grombacher

Icelandic artist Rósa Sigrún Jónsdóttir transforms rum46 into a botanical oasis with an ambitious installation of crochet plants and flowers that “grow” though the gallery space, against a backdrop of floral watercolour paintings.  

This is the latest edition of Jónsdóttir’s ongoing exhibition series, Grös/Grasses, in which she meticulously reproduces medicinal Icelandic plants in thread - a practice that combines her fascination with natural medicine and her commitment to the feminist legacy and activist potential of craft. 

Artist statement: 
Since my graduation from The Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2001, I have regularly created large-scale textile installations and sculptures. For the last few years I have been working with groups of craftswomen in the hope of drawing wider attention to the importance and possibilities of craft as an innovative form of creative work. 

Although crochet is sometimes belittled as the domain of elderly ladies, it is a politically engaged, radical artform as well as a positive social force. “Craftivism” is now an accepted term in the artworld, but the activist use of craft has long historical roots, for example by the Tricoteuses of the French Revolution, who knitted as a means of resisting the ban against women’s political assembly. 

In my mind, using a slow technique like knitting and crochet is also a way to celebrate my mother’s tradition by exploring the endless possibilities of thread, while at the same time resisting consumerism and spreading my belief in the meditative and healing powers of craft. 

Crochet workshop: October 5, 1-3:20pm
Rósa Sigrún Jónsdóttir led a workshop on how to crochet one of the medicinal flowers that is featured in her floral installations, Icelandic Chamomile aka Baldur's Eyelashes (lat. matricaria maritima). The workshop includes an Artist Talk with Rósa. 

Artist talk: October 5, 2-2:40pm 
Rósa Sigrún Jónsdóttir introduced the exhibition’s themes with a focus on the healing functions of Icelandic flowers and the community that often arises out of craft. 
This event is free and open to the public, and is presented as part of Art Weekend Aarhus. 

Curated with Sasha Rose Richter.
Supported by Statens Kunstfond, Aarhus Kommune and rum46.