SIF ITONA WESTERBERG
Allegorical in nature, Sif Itona Westerberg’s work straddles myth and reason. Taking stories of the past, Sif carves modern-day, future-focused narratives with aerated concrete as her medium.
Words by Caroline Ryan
Interviewed and curated by Emil Nissen
Many of your works stem from monsters and creatures of Greek mythology, but they feel current in their shape and sense of material, what is it about greek mythology that intrigues you?
We have fucked up our planet so bad, and most of it comes from humans thinking that they are above and separate from the ecosystem that we inhabit. Most mythologies and native belief systems from all over the world, centre around an idea that everything is connected, and needs to be balanced; that there has to be equal give and take. But today we seem to live by a code where humans are allowed to dominate and utilise both each other and the living world around us. Greek mythology is especially interesting to me because it represents a more balanced worldview; someone is always being transformed into a plant or a tree or an animal, it is just brimming with transformations and hybrid creatures. And I think that the hybrid is a perfect symbol of that balance we can't seem to find. The hybrid creature sort of gets to walk both the human, plant, and mineral kingdom and serve as a bridge. And I think we need more bridges to understand the craziness of our world today.
Could you describe your work process? How do you begin a piece?
I always start with a drawing, that I project onto slabs of concrete, and then start carving into a relief. But before that, it usually starts with me being curious, reading books, articles and listening to everything from science podcasts to dystopian eco sci-fi and going through different myths to see if something intrigues me. I like to kind of set the frame for where I wish to go with a piece before I start. Lately, a lot of my works have sprung from specific myths, that I think have some kind of relevance today. Like the myth of Phaethon, son of the sun God that sets the whole on fire, because he wants to prove himself. An ancient myth of manmade climate catastrophe that could just as well have been written today.
Which artist living or dead do you admire?
Oh, so many, but I really admire Rudolph Tegner, not only for making fantastic monumental sculptures, but also because his art was always critiqued for being too over the top, but he never gave up and kept on working, and producing one insanely large sculpture after the other. He ended up buying a piece of land and building his own museum and sculpture park for his works. I think that that is really admirable. And that if you have that ability as an artist, to just go on working and insisting, even if the whole world is looking the other way, then you are pretty much solid.
What are your work dreams for the future?
Right now my biggest work dream for the future is to go on a residency. Preferably somewhere warm, historic, and beautiful, and just have time and quiet around me to really get into research and experimenting with new materials. Something magic always happens when you get to remove yourself from your usual surroundings and just surrender your focus to one thing. For the past year, I have been running pretty much constantly to keep up, and I wish for this fast pace to continue because it is thrilling and exciting to see everything grow, but I also wish to carve out a little place of quiet myself.
Portrait Photgraphy by Lizette Mikkelsen