White picket fence
hand-carved wood, paint and screws
2020
White picket fence is site-specific work that was raised at Stora torget, Vara, in 2020. During the late 1960s this square underwent a transformation from being a lively public space in the city to becoming a parking lot for cars. Later, during the 2018 parliamentary elections, one out four residents in the municipality voted for the right-wing populist party The Sweden democrats. This work draws from these changes that has taken place in the towns physical and political landscape.
With the size of a regular parking lot and the hight of a protective fence, the work embodies the physical and ideological existence of boundaries, and touches topics concerned with public and private spaces, exclusion and belonging. Rather than as picturesque, the sharply carved tips and the heigh height makes the white picket fence appear expelling, even vaguely threatening.