Majlis Agbeck

Majlis Agbeck (b. 1948) conjures up a singular universe in paintings and embroideries, where strange animals are recurring motifs. Some ten works spanning the period 2004–2019 will be shown in the Right Gallery at Moderna Museet Malmö. Five of these were recently completed and are displayed for the first time here.

Agbeck’s diaphanous image worlds, seemingly unbound by gravity, are profoundly rare and unlike anything else. We sense vestiges of childhood memories. The creatures, hybrids of mammals and birds, encounter or explore an external world that intrudes on them or arouses their curiosity.

With fine threads Agbeck embroiders stories about careful examinations of relationships, and about approaching an unfamiliar world beyond one’s own limitations, where nothing can be taken at face value. The creatures can be seen as metaphors for human innocence and curiosity. The pictures tell of cautious attempts to gauge the world. Relationships, often between people, are the focus.

Agbeck is an observer who relates perceptions from a zone that lies beyond words. The artist masterfully peels away all that is superfluous. There is a silence and wonder in these images that exudes loneliness, yet seems to invite participation. The threads linking to the world outside are exceedingly thin and fragile.

Majlis Agbeck was born in Halmstad and began her career as a painter.  After art studies in Malmö in 1969–70, she studied at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm from 1970 to 1975.  Since 2004, thread and embroidery have been her primary expressive medium. Agbeck currently lives and works in Malmö and Sjörup/Ystad.

Curator: Iris Müller-Westermann