Peter Tucker

Peter writes from Sweden and sends news of a seminar and two recent exhibitions featuring Monica and her work. Some details of these events can be read about in our Biography/On Going Events section.

     It has been said that no artist becomes famous until she is dead, and no prophet is ever recognised in her home country. These statements are probably as true of Monica Sjöö as of any other, and explain part of the fact that during her lifetime she and her work were largely ignored in her home country Sweden.

  Monica Sjöö must certainly be one of Sweden’s foremost, internationally known feminist artists. Nevertheless, for decades Monica has been dismissed as “irrelevant” by the Swedish art world, and even by the feminist movement (although she has had support over the years from small groups of women, above all in Gothenburg, the Stockholm-Uppsala area, and the north). Obviously the fact that Monica lived outside Sweden for so long must play a part in this marginalisation, but the particular character of the feminist scene in Sweden, as well as the nature of the Swedish art world, also play an important role. Both are suspicious of what they see in her work, although for different reasons. On the one hand, modern, socially active feminists are terrified of being associated with what they call “womb-mysticism”, on the other hand, the way Monica combined Neolithic images in her paintings is regarded by art critics as bordering on the “illustrative” and definitely not a part of main-stream modern art. It should be borne in mind that “modernism” in all its forms is a key factor in Swedish fame abroad, and a vital element in the self-image the country has built up for itself. To break the taboos of modern art is to swear in the Swedish cultural church. Monica was never averse to breaking taboos, or swearing in church, and never compromised, although she did believe herself to be a part of Swedish art tradition.

In addition, Swedes tend to be uncomfortable if someone cannot easily be placed in a clearly defined category, and have difficulty in dealing with people like Monica, who combined art, eco-feminism, direct political action, study of ancient cultures, and spiritual exploration in one and the same continuum. Much lip service is paid to the “multi-disciplinary” ideal in this country, but the truth of the matter is that “paradox” is a concept that has never really sunk in here. Monica was nothing if not paradoxical, as well as living a multi-disciplinary life to the full. Hence the unease with which she has hitherto been regarded in Sweden.

  She was even ignored on a literary level. Her book, The Great Cosmic Mother, written with Barbara Moore, a classic of its kind, and widely read by feminists all across the anglo-saxon world, has never been translated into Swedish. Again, mainly because she broke cultural taboos, in this case those of Swedish publishing. Monica had no formal university education, and academic qualification (and properly organised references) is a must for any author who wishes to get a book such as hers accepted for printing in Sweden. Monica broke all the rules.

  Despite this treatment, Sweden was always very important to Monica and she tried to come here as often as she could.  She made several attempts over the last decades to get her work taken seriously in this country, and managed to arrange exhibitions of her paintings in different places, although always without arousing any interest in established art circles. The only permanent collection available for view here are a number of works which she deposited in the care of the Anna Nordlander Museum in Skellefteå.

  However, things are looking up. A beginning has been made in the task of introducing Monica Sjöö to a wider audience in Sweden. Much of the above was discussed at an important seminar held recently in Stockholm in conjunction with a one-woman exhibition of Monica’s work in an established gallery in that city (Monica Sjöö – Blessed Be). In addition, four of her works, including the infamous God Giving Birth, have received a prominent place in a huge retrospective exhibition of Swedish feminist art since the sixties, now touring the country (Konstfeminism – Artfeminism). It can truly be said that Monica is on her way home.

Peter Tucker