It is now 40 years since Lars Foss, boss for the chemical company BT Kemi, drank Hormoslyr on Swedish television. Hormoslyr is a herbicide that was sprayed over the Swedish forests during the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s to kill deciduous trees. In America this chemical went under the name Agent Orange and was used in the Vietnam war. In northern Sweden, the spraying was the most intensive and you can up to this day see traces of how the forest was reshaped by Hormoslyr.
In the sound piece ”Then Hormoslyr Came Like a Rescuing Angel” I interview two elderly foresters from Lycksele, northern Sweden They tell of the success of the chemical Hormoslyr but also of how they had second thoughts about what it did to the forest. The last big battle about Hormoslyr was held in the village of Aapua in Norrbotten. The local people camped on a clear cut in the forest for several weeks in August 1979 to prevent spraying. This led to a ban of Hormoslyr in Sweden later that fall. In the piece ”Aapua” I have worked with drawings on tarp built on documentary material from the village Aapua.
Then Hormoslyr Came Like a Rescuing Angel, 2018
Video loop, sound piece, coffee on wrapping paper, photography
“If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear”, Köttinspektionen, Uppsala, 2018
“What could not be expected in the country of eternal light”, Galleri Box, Göteborg, 2018
Aapua, 2018
Drawing on tarp, 3,5 x 5,2 m
“I go; but remember I shall be with you on your wedding-night”, Umeå konsthall, 2018
