image teller
Joanna Hellgren tells stories in pictures – with flowing gouache or simple strokes, she conjures up her images on paper, which are then often accompanied by text and published in book form. But sometimes the images stand on their own, for the most part as drypoint prints. Now we have received a number of Hellgren's works on ed-art.se
Some might call her an illustator, but Joanna Hellgren is much more than that. Her images claim their space and become more than just illustrations. Sometimes she herself is responsible for the entire artistic content, as in the illustrated novels Min nattbror (My nocturnal brother) and the Frances trilogy, her debut works that were published in both Swedish and French and were nominated for and given a number of prestigious awards.
Otherwise, many will probably recognize her imagery from modern children's book classics such as Blixtslukaren, or her images in the new editions of the Katitzi books. Hellgren has been nominated for the August Prize three times for her book collaborations.
In addition to working on books, she also creates independent images. There is a small drypoint press in the studio, which she can use for printmaking. So how does the printmaking differ from her regular work?
– I usually work with visual storytelling in book form, both with illustrated novels for adults and young people and with picture books for younger children. In both cases, the images are an important part of describing a sequence of events, especially in the illustrated novels. There are hundreds of drawings that describe personalities, emotional states, experiences and environments.
– When it comes to printmaking, I also usually want to interpret an experience, but in a way that can both be boiled down to a single image and that can also be interpreted in completely different ways for other people. For me, the image feels most worth multiplying and spending a lot of time on if it evokes strong emotions.
– For example, the image Fontän (Fountain) arose from a tremendous feeling of happiness and freedom swimming by some rocks in the sea as a child, morning, noon and evening.
– I made a En vänlig grönskas rika dräkt (the Earth Adorned in Verdant Robe, after a Swedish Summer hymn) after keeping vigil at my grandmother's house last spring. In a room in Stockholm, everyone did what they could to comfort her when she passed away after almost a hundred years. Elsewhere in the world, children were allowed to starve to death in debris. Outside the room, it was a wonderful spring. The background was sad, but it can still be a beautiful picture.
– I picked Gatlyktorna (The Street Lamps) from an unfinished story that in turn came from my fear that my runaway prone toddler would one day run straight out into the darkness of the suburban forest and disappear. Luckily, she didn't!
Joanna Hellgren, born 1981, is educated at Konstfack and Academie Penninghen in Paris, graduating in 2004. She has won numerous awards; the illustrated novels trilogy Frances was awarded both the Urhundenplaketten (2010) and the Heffaklumpen (2012) when it was published in Swedish. She has been awarded Snöbollen – årets svenska bilderbok (2015) and nominated for the Augustpriset three times.