State of nature is a term that describes a hypothetical way of life that existed before civil societies and is commonly used in political philosophy in order to understand the reasons for forming social contracts and creating nation states. Depending one the view one takes, this state can be seen as an ideal state of harmony as well as one of brutal egotism, in extension leading to conclusions about society as either a good or corrupting force.

Depicted in the work we see a man with a maple seedpod on the tip of his nose, an image that might intuitively lead to thoughts of child’s play or the story of Pinocchio, but that inevitably also leads to the fundamental question of man’s relation to, and conception of, nature.

Installed in the exhibition Landet ingenstans at Ahlbergshallen, 2023.