Emelie Röndahl

“The fact that the rya weave produces motifs with completely different and even contradictory expressions – an inner and an outer image, and a kind of underworld – appeals to me.”

For the past decade, figurative rya weaving has had a starring role in Emelie Röndahl’s artistry. One central feature is the innate duality of the rya, where the front and back can have totally different expressions. In these hand-woven pieces, often large-scale, dynamic tension is created between the shaggy side dripping with tentacles and the smooth horizontal lines of the reverse side.

Motivation:

Emelie Röndahl moves from the photographic to the woven image, allowing her rya weaves to take shape in the tension generated between surfaces, order, and a cascade of 3-dimensional chaos. The thick draped yarn on the front of each piece transforms the motif, lending them a relief-like character, giving them motion, and they appears to flow with great force.

By allowing her materials free reign, Emelie Röndahl creates a sense of losing control, in contrast to the strict regularity weaving innately produces. The motifs, digital pixels or images from her own daily life, emerge like troubling and affecting snapshots.

For her bold and unique renewal of woven tapestries, Emelie Röndahl is awarded the 2024 Culture Scholarship by the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture.