skinheads
KUTURHUSET STOCKHOLM GALLERY 5, August 2003
Press Release
SKINHEADS
Galleri 5 Kulturhuset Stockholm 2003
Artist Anna C Eriksson has followed different groups of skinheads for seven years, creating a documentary art exhibition with photography, oil paintings and texts. ‘Skinheads’ gives us access to a reality we would otherwise never see – the life behind the newspaper headlines.
The skinhead culture is linked to systematic acts of violence and few of us are left untouched when we meet young men with shaved heads, bomber jackets and boots. What are they thinking, what do they want, what are they doing. Really? Anna C Eriksson has devoted the last few years of her artistic career to getting to know them. Now she presents a unique exhibition. Photographs and oil paintings are accompanied by interviews, quotes and straightforward texts about the people she has met.
“I am driven by curiosity and I search for some kind of truth. The last seven years with the skinheads, I have encountered both self-destructiveness and stubborn creativity. I have witnessed passion and joy, despair and hopelessness. I have realised that we all have different ways of dealing with the thorns and setbacks we encounter in life”.
In many ways, ‘Skinheads’ is an unusual exhibition. The oil paintings are super-realistic and in some cases have taken her a year to complete. She gives voice to one of the most controversial youth cultures of our time, and she does so with an authority that only solid research can provide. Anna C Eriksson teaches us something about human beings, with all their flaws and dreams.
The exhibition includes an installation with six pairs of skinhead boots, each telling a story about the boots and those who wore them.
An excerpt:
Killers boots
1986
May – Battered by the police at Stortorget in Gamla stan, Stockholm.
June – Fight at a beach – complete blackout, beaten, arrested by police,
retained in custody, boots to forensic laboratory.
July/August – Boots seized. Released after six weeks in custody, no boots… Feeling naked
without my boots.
September – Forensics releases my boots, shirt and trousers. The clothes are cut up and the boots have scratches. I hate the police for scratching my beloved boots.
Autumn – Reunion with my family – they try to help me.
30 November – Kungsträdgården, commemoration of King Charles XII.
1987
Spring – Arrested due to assault. Concert with Bad Manners at Fryshuset in Stockholm.
October – Banging a punk girl – with boots on.
November – Fight in Gamla Stan – several friends escaped from the fight. Came home drunk, nail up the boots on the wall – should quit!!!!
Two days later – I put on the boots again, can’t be without them.
“I was driven by curiosity and I was searching for some kind of truth”
I have always been interested in art that reflects the time in which we are living. In the future it will be a document of the past. Art should have an impact in society and suggest an alternative point of view. Art should be an eye-opener. Or upset us! Mankind is a great source of inspiration for me.
My exhibition Skinheads is a result of many years of research. I have been close to the people in this subculture for seven years and I have seen everything from self-destructive behavior to stubborn creativeness. I have seen passion and joy, despair and hopelessness.
I was driven by my curiosity and I was searching for some kind of truth. I found as many truths as there are individuals.
The result of my research is an exhibition about a subculture which contains a great variety of opinions, self-expressions, self-images, lifestyles and fates. During these years I have learned what it means to be human. That we all handle our ordeals in different ways. These experiences have broadened my mind.
Artist
Anna C Eriksson (August 2003)
