Bjuvstegocefalen
mixed media
2013
Bjuvstegocefalen (the Stegocephalia from Bjuv) is a three dimensional, wearable re-re reconstruction of the today extinct amphibian Gerrothor'rax rhae'ticus. In 1942 a fossilized version of this animal were found deep down in coal mineshafts in the village Bjuv in southern Sweden.
After being exhibited opposit to a a jurassic landscape in wash and alongside with an ink drawing and a limestone fossil version of itself (all representing earlier layers of reconstruction) the Bjuvstegocefalen costume was donated by the artist to Bjuv - a municipality of which 14,9 % of the inhabitants supports the Sweden Democrats, a xenophobic far-right political party.
By reminding of the fact that the spot of planet Earth we today refer to as Bjuv, 200 million years ago was a shallow lukewarm sea near the sunny equator, questions of national identity, belonging and ethnicity can perhaps be approached from a different position. What happens with boundaries and definitions of origin when the very tectonic plates are drifting?
The work was produced during a residency at Art Lab Gnesta.