Ceramics conceptual project 2023
“Riddarhyttan rälsspik” is both an act of reflection and an attempt to re-engage with the history of the town of Riddarhyttan. The project is based on a careful reconsideration of the meaning of individual elements when placed within a contemporary context.
Approximately fifty years ago, the region to which Riddarhyttan belongs was one of Sweden’s largest iron-mining areas. At that time, the town was populated by people whose lives and work were closely tied to the mining industry. As global iron prices declined and mining became economically unsustainable, the industry came to an end. Gradually, the population began to leave this small industrial town in search of work elsewhere.
The metal extracted here proved to be vulnerable, much like the people who once prospered in this place but ultimately chose to leave it. This parallel forms the conceptual basis of the project, which seeks to reconsider the idea of metal as a symbol of strength by revealing its fragility.
I found a metal railway spike near an abandoned railway track, created a plaster mold from it, and produced one hundred ceramic spikes. This transformation demonstrates how a material commonly perceived as strong and durable can also be fragile.
For me, the project also raises a broader question: what happens to a place after people arrive, extract what they need, and then leave it behind?