The Maria Bonnier Dahlin 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 then, the Foundation has always sought out the new and innovative, and several of those who have received the grant are now some of Sweden’s most renowned contemporary artists

This year’s guest jury includes Miriam Andersson Blecher, Director at Botkyrka Konsthall and the artist and former grant recipient Paul Fägerskiöld. The jury is presided over by Christel Engelbert, who has been the Foundation’s chairman since 2016 and manages the fund.

Jury’s statement

We have chosen to award Afrang Nordlöf Malekian the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation Grant in appreciation of his strong personal voice, his personal narrative and the urgency of what he wants to say, which has touched us deeply. Afrang’s art moves between the personal and the communal, the political and the private, and the concrete and the intangible. In his work, he combines different media, approaches and perspectives in an engaging way. He skilfully creates a tapestry in which different times, acts and vantage points are represented. Whatever the medium, Afrang’s work is imbued with a compelling energy and desire. His artistic practice evokes curiosity about what is to come. In the work My Dear Dad Said, we are captured by Afrang Nordlöf Malekian’s personal and vulnerable narrative, and see the strength of his storytelling. It is a narrative of which we would like to see more.

We have chosen to award Roger Smeby the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation Grant after finding ourselves deeply moved by his artistic voice and imagery. In a visual world that oscillates between the understated and the extraordinary, Roger takes us on a journey through the tunnels beneath the city. It is a journey that reflects some very specific themes, such as stone, hard work and the passing of time. And something much more elusive, such as the seed of creativity, the desire to tell stories and the desire to create meaning from one’s experiences. Roger’s visual world feels pressing and we cannot let go of it. Roger Smeby has an intriguing way of working with both scale and narrative in his exhibitions. As viewers, we move from the detail to the majestic, from the featherlight to the overwhelming, and from the brief to the time-consuming. The position of our gaze and how we see something is constantly changing, always without losing focus from the narrative woven by the images. 

Read more here.

Image: Roger Smeby & Afrang Nordlöf Malekian. Photo: Christofer Dracke