Photo: Stine Camilla Stenseth
Liilian Saksi, b.1989 in Norrköping, received her MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2017. Since 2020, she has been living and working on a small farm in south east Norway close to the Swedish boarder, where she raises her own sheep for wool. The sheeps are named after her Swedish ancestors from the area of Tornedalen, as reminisces of both her own family heritage, as well as a reminder of a different mindset regarding craft and the resources we are surrounded by. Working exclusively with her own flock and the sheep at her parents farm, the work explores questions about the intrinsic value of animals and our coexistence with them.
Saksi has had several solo exhibitions, such as at Kunstnerforbundet and SOFT gallery in Oslo, and participated in group exhibitions abroad, including Talente 2020 (Germany) and ConTextile Textile Triennale (Portugal). Her works are also part of several collections, including the National Museum in Oslo and the KODE Art Museum in Bergen. She is currently one of the four nominated artists at the Eckbos Legat Grant exhibition at the Vigeland Museum in Oslo.
Since 2018, Saksi has been working with the ancient braiding technique called Sprang. The braiding is done on a stretched warp, row by row, so that the textile is constructed simultaneously from both the top and the bottom.
From the moment the wool is sheared, the artist sees it through the whole process of washing, carding, dyeing, and spinning.
The work investigates the interplay of colours and the interaction with the material, a recurring theme in the artist’s work. It brings together the crafts of hand spinning and sprang, with vibrant colors and the use of plexiglass, which creates a contrast with the wool as a material and leads the work into the present.