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Nocturnal Dreams
Frida Fjellman invites us to take part in a dream scenario, a brightly coloured utopia of physical and metaphysical interaction. The dream presents itself to the visitor like a fable narrated by its characters: fox, muskrat, marten, hare, beavers and owls.
In the land of dreams there is no uncertainty about the plausibility of events and of the way the world appears to us. Time, space, friends and acquaintances are mixed together in contexts which would be impossible in the real world. Just as a dream is experienced as true in spite of its improbable scenario, Frida Fjellman infuses plausibility into her installation. Animals, objects and furniture have undergone a communal evolution and established their accustomed forms, their places and their internal relationships. They appear in a world that functions without hierarchies and that is free from human power and the superiority of the predator. By cross-fertilizing cultural and natural phenomena Frida Fjellman gives expression to this human and animal interaction. There is a pleasant glow to the world that appears, a colour filter removing what, in a normal context, might be experienced as disquieting. There are flashing rays of inviting red, the rain sends down streams of violet pearls, the beavers are friends with all people of good will. Seen through the eyes of hope, Nocturnal Dreams are the dream of a better world, a Fjellmanian eldorado.
A less advantageous interpretation of Nocturnal Dreams, from a human perspective, is to see them as a vision of the future in which our own role has been superseded. Our human family has resigned from its calling, has terminated itself; and the world has returned to a flawless natural cycle. The grey dirt has gone and the colours have again taken charge, stronger than ever before. Human leavings, the remains of our artificial, material world, have been formed and polished by the forces of nature and have then been taken over and adapted by the animals. Sad for us humans, one may think, but nice, evidently, for all the other inhabitants of the planet and, in this sense, a utopia.
Whether the Nocturnal Dreams are those of people or animals is not stated. But regardless of this and of how the dream is interpreted, each of us is granted an opportunity of undertaking a waking journey in the universe of dreams.
Maj Sandell
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