Charlotta Hammar

Two years ago, Charlotta Hammar received the Värmlands Museiförening grant, which is awarded annually to a young, promising artist with a connection to Värmland.

The motivation stressed particularly how the artist uses film and photography as her mediums in “making visible the emotions that arise in the meeting of the familiar and the strange, of that which is worth keeping safe, and the threat. Using words and images to put her finger on what influences, even defines, a community or the lack thereof, Hammar both explores and alters the relationships between these opposites.” The jury was eagerly anticipating her continued work.  

For the artist, issues relating to vulnerability, crisis, protection, preparedness, and the human relation to nature were already in focus at that time. The climate threat and other dangers that influence us as human beings are captured in photographs and on film, their presence featured as a most distinctive component in her work. Since then, we have had to learn to live with the circumstances brought on by the pandemic, defined by distancing, isolation, and polarisation. The uncertainty of our future and its nature has increased. The exhibition of Charlotta Hammar’s work now on display at the Museum of Värmland has been created largely during this particular period in time, and her work has gained both in depth and scope. Grave and arduous conditions it might seem, but always captured with a measure of distance to relieve the tension.  

The exhibition can be described as a kind of “collected works” from the last three years of Charlotta Hammar’s artistic endeavour. It includes framed photographs, one video (moving images + audio), one installation, one text piece, and posters. The overarching themes addressed in the exhibition touch upon questions about existential threats, crisis management, protection, and therapy, both from an individual and a societal perspective. The works can be interpreted from multiple points of view, but they all spring from the everyday life of the artist herself, marked by the feeling that the ground might shatter at any moment. The sky might suddenly change its colour, and take on a new and unnatural shade. Where do we go if the world falls apart?  

We invite you to share Charlotta Hammar’s imagery!