Flores pretiosi
2024
Flores pretiosi
2024
The Process
As a paper artist I mostly use old books as material. I recieve the books from friends and acquaintances or buy them at flea markets. The quality of the paper is central and visible signs of the passage of time is of interest. During an artist retreat at Tumba Paper Mill Museum spring 2024 I got the chance to work on my own in the papermaking workshop. The work was calm, methodical, and focused. It was however harder than I expected. At every moment I tried to calibrate the technique, from how little the frame had to be moved and tilted to spread the pulp evenly across the fine mesh net, to how my body weight was distributed from side to side when the sheet was transferred to the drying blanket. To master a new craft takes a lot of time, at least 10.000 hours, but the instance I managed a reasonably acceptable sheet of paper I felt a sense of satisfaction. The results from my residence was a significant stack of hand made paper sheets. When I got back to my studio, I started to experiment with the pressed sheets and my usual papier maché technique.
Project description
Flores pretiosi – latin for flowers of value
The paper pulp used in the workshop consist of cotton linters*, the same material that is used in the making of banknotes. During my experiments with the handmade paper, I started thinking about different perceptions of “values”. My attention was drawn towards Swedish banknotes – with portraits of cultural personalities and environmental motifs that are linked to them. For example, the banknote for 50 SEK which depicts Evert Taube alongside Vinga lighthouse and Bohuslän’s province flower, the wild honeysuckle. There are 7 flowers depicted on Swedish banknotes. I chose to portray these flowers in paper.
During the creative process, my thoughts revolved around how and to what we assign value. The natural resources from which paper is extracted, or the money that is printed on it? Is the value of nature even possible to measure in money? The paper pulp in the handmade paper is the same as in the making of banknotes, so it could be imagined that the paper in itself would have a value, but – “Money ain’t nothing but paper ’til it’s printed”.
Banknotes are rarely handled in this era of digitalization. When describing the project to acquaintances they had no clue to which motifs are found on banknotes nowadays.
*cotton fibres, residual product from the textile industry
