Olof Marsja and Iris Smeds are the recipients of the 2019 Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation grant. The foundation was established by Jeanette Bonnier in 1985, in memory of her daughter Maria, who lost her life in a car accident at the age of 20. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded grants to young Swedish artists to support them in their work.

The guest jury 2019 included Katarina Pierre, director Bildmuseet and Loulou Cherinet, professor at the Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design.

Iris Smeds, born 1984. Lives and works in Stockholm.

From the jury’s statement:

“The power and magnitude of Iris Smeds does not have to do with her credibility as a unique, young and promising artistic talent – quite the opposite. Over the past 10 years, she has occupied a borderline realm in the arts, moving between performance, writing, theatre, film and set design, giving form to the partial burn-outs, the mediocre and the second-rate misfits. Her surrealistic imagery radically questions just how we construct the world around ourselves and the deeply absurd in human existence. With her artistic repertoire, which follows its own rhythm, Iris Smeds convinces us of art’s capacity for resilience and resistance.”