Nature and questions of human relations are recurring sources of inspiration and subject matters in Nina Ekman’s work. Ekman’s work floats between paint and textiles, sculptures and etchings, always experimenting. Most recently Ekman has been drawn to the technique of tufting as a way of building textile sculptures. Tufting is a method of weaving carpets, but to Ekman tufting has become a playful opportunity to create singular pieces with an original appearance.
At first sight the tufted works might appear as simply fun, likeable and quirky, but most of Ekman’s pieces investigate the unsustainability of our modern lifestyle inviting the observer to reflect upon our linear way of consuming, fast fashion and the consequences of our neglect for the future of the planet.
Sustainability and circularity are also key in Ekman’s work production by the choice of materials (e.g. deadstock yarn). The dilemmas and paradoxes of modern life and the preservation of our globe are a driving force in Ekman’s work - urgent and inevitable, but the tufted huggable cactus and vivid palm trees are also somehow comforting utopias