mythical rooms
We're delighted to unveil Kristina Bength's very first lithograph. Her work has previously only been available as a watercolor originals, and it is therefore an extra pleasure to present "Det ljus som delats" (The light that was shared) which the artist worked on during the late summer of 2017.
In her watercolor painting, Kristina Bength starts off with photographic archival material. Based on this, she tries to create new stories. Early photography is a constant source of inspiration - painting becomes a way to transform the images and make them the artist's own. Bength has often brought forth excluded and forgotten stories, including in a project documenting the prison and mental health environments where the photographer and actor Amanda Kristina Pedersen lived during the early 20th century. Pedersen appeared under several identities, both male and female, and was convicted of fraud and forgery.
Kristina Bength at work
The photographic image which the "Det ljus som delats" sets out from was taken at the old sanatorium Solliden in Östersund, where the patients were isolated at the time and the treatment consisted of fresh air. Bength has been working with black ink directly onto mylar film, which then is used to expose the lithographic plates.
Kristina Bength is educated at the Academy Valand in Gothenburg, with a degree in 2008, and the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. She is today a well-established artist who exhibited at art galleries and museums around Sweden, and she has also been represented at art exhibitions abroad.
The work is carried out on drawing film which then is photographically transferred to litho plates. In Kristina Bength's case, five of them. Hence, there is no "original" – the piece exists only as a print.
The working material: ink, brushes, tape, tissue and a hair dryer 
The printing press in motion
