SKIN TO SKIN
Marje Taska and Sanne Sihm
16–25 May 2025
Opening Friday, 16 May at 16:00–19:00
Guided tour Saturday, 17 May at 12:00
Welcome to an exhibition featuring two artists who both work with the material of leather/skin.
Skin is the membrane that encloses a body, a living being
In the skin's tracks are the traces of time, the hand’s work, beauty and fragility
Signs from the past are etched in the twists of the skin
Memory of an imprint in the universe — The emergence of life
Sanne Sihm was born in the USA to Danish parents and grew up in Malmfälten, Kiruna. Today, she works in the areas around Uppsala, where she is, among other things, a member of the artist group RackarArt. In her artistic work, Sihm explores different materials depending on what she wants to express, with materials that can move from things as simple as clay, rope, or moss. She has, however, increasingly found herself drawn to leather. Leather, as both material and concept, Sihm sees as an ancient tool in sculptural work.
In Sihm’s works, the natural reactions of leather to aging and the passage of time are highlighted, extending both forward and backward in time. The material’s unyielding forms, which both decay and grow, evoke a sense of something primal. Sihm’s artistry prominently and thoughtfully stages the meeting between the dreamlike and the corporeal.
Marje Taska is currently based in Stockholm but was born and raised in Estonia. She has a strong connection to leather art through her grandfather Eduard Taska, who left his mark on the Estonian leather craft tradition in the early 20th century. Marje Taska carries on the family tradition, working with leather as a raw material for both sculptural and functional pieces.
The works in this exhibition are made from vegetable-tanned leather and suede. The material has been processed with leather knives and modeling pens, and dyed with acrylic and tempera. Most of the works were created during the 1990s, when Marje was already living in Sweden.
At a stage when her life took an unexpected turn, her creative expression became more laconic. Geometry, with its simple tension, seemed to her the only alternative when all structure and order had been lost. Once everything superfluous and nonessential had been stripped off, all that was left were the basic elements – lines, curves, surfaces, circles.
Now, in 2025, Taska has left geometry behind and is more interested in what lies beneath the skin, the subcutaneous world, our subconscious.
Opening hours:
Weekdays 16:00–19:00
Weekends 12:00–16:00