Tova Mozard

The sense of finding yourself in the middle of a story is pronounced and while the compositions made up of dilapidated environments, film sets and bizarre characters make her photographs visually attractive, the viewer is left with a feeling that is both nostalgic and saturated.

Both her photographs and films are located in that border country between the fictional and the documentary. Frequently her work deals with the images of the entertainment industry vis a vis its reality. In Mozard’s work on video, the focus is on individual narratives, and what she often shows us are peculiar and alternative lifestyles. Their depiction and form are enriched and made more complex through the interpretations she makes combined with her narrative grasp. She subjects the viewer to an intrusive form of portraiture, while bringing out qualities that alienate us from it, such as pictorial effects and her proximity to the theatrical.

Looking back and a Romantic relationship to her theme are characteristic aspects of Mozard’s pictorial world. She exploits this in an evocative way, cleverly playing with our receptivity and empathy on various levels.

Tova Mozard

Born 1978 in Malmö.
Lives and works in Malmö.

Education

1998–2003
MfA, Malmö Art Academy, Malmö

2002
Visiting scholar, UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, Department of Art, Los Angeles [US]

Selected solo exhibitions

2005
The Owls Are Not What They Seem, Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle

2004
Extra Story, Galleri Ping Pong, Malmö

2003
The un-manipulated reality doesn’t always alone offer truth, ALP galleri Peter Bergman, Stockholm

Selected group exhibitions

2004
MALM1-Contemporary Art from the Öresund Region, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö

2004
Instabilt-nya riktningar inom svensk fotografi (Unstable“ – new directions in Swedish photography), Kulturhuset, Stockholm/ BildMuseet, Umeå

2003
Om – berättande i svensk samtidskonst, (Narration in Swedish Contemporary Art) Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Norrköping

Selected bibliography

James Welling, The Dominator (exh. cat.), 2005.

Gertrud Sandqvist, Gaze (exh. cat.), 2005.

Leif Holmstrand, “Pictures at the Border of Cinema; Tova Mozard and the Storytelling Image”, Pequod, # 30, 2002.