REPORTAGE

When the place brings art to life

History, folk soul and love. Poet Lo Ragnar Lindström draws his inspiration from the landscape of northern Sweden, Västerbotten and his hometown Skellefteå in his poetry about home, nature, heritage and identity.

For the 27-year-old poet Lo Ragnar Lindström, Skellefteå is both home and a great source of inspiration. From his farm just outside the city, he creates powerful poetry and prose in a way that reveals and touches. The theme is often linked to their own, but also the identity of the place. From the settlers' roots to today. This gives Lo Ragnar's work a highly personal angle - and at the same time a high recognition factor for everyone who knows the place.

- My work lives in some kind of symbiosis with the place, with nature, with the seasons, with the land and with the roots. Whatever I write reflects the place, the history and the environment," explains Lo Ragnar.

The acclaimed work "Kroppar i myrmarken" (Bodies in the marshland) launched his career. In 2022, it won Aftonbladet's "Min eld" award, which has since had a ripple effect.

Lo Ragnar has recently performed "Lo Ragnar och Nino - En poesiföreställning om glesbygd, tro och identitet" with Riksteatern. Through a tour of Sweden, they have given their poetry new life on stage. Despite a relief to come home, the tour has offered impressions that drive the creation forward according to Lo Ragnar.

- "Being able to perform the poetry live, in the room where we are, is luxurious as a writer. To understand how it lands in the audience. It has been great to meet all the audience and have that room. We're so present together, but at the same time there's a lot going on inside them," it says.

"It is so close to me.The water that carries me, a sensational sensation. The sun is blazing, burning the skin that peeks up. It smells of lake and forest, it moves around me. A bramble and a vole at the edge of the forest or something. I am in the forest and I am a part. Everything passes through my body before it reaches me, but there is no longer any delay. All sensory impressions come immediately. I am in my body and we are one. I float on my back and belong to the forest."

From "Bodies in the Marsh" by Lo Ragnar Lindström

A new cultural center, strong population growth and a newfound identity for the place Skellefteå means that new questions can be asked. Lo Ragnar is also happy about the city's development, but is all that glitters gold? Preserving the soul of the people and grassroots culture is particularly important when the melody echoing through Skellefteå today is called growth.

- Those who hang their faith on growth, it is their heyday now. I wish we would take a long-term view of this. Of course we should be happy about it, but I hope that the width and space will continue to exist. For me, it is the grassroots culture. It must be given space.

Grassroots culture. Can it be defined?

- In a way, it's very personal. Grassroots is about culture and engagement. It's maybe too narrow a term in that way. It's people creating for themselves and for others in their place, we don't need to get it through institutions. It's linked to engagement because if you're not interested in the place, you have no interest in creating there," it explains.

What can that commitment look like? Or rather, what does it look like for you?

- "I actively look at my surroundings and have strong relationships with my settler roots inland in Västerbotten. Their story, which is also my story, has been very crucial in my teenage years. My body is indistinguishable from the ground or the place. You can't avoid it, it's a very valuable insight to have and permission to be in when I create.

Is that what has made you stay in Skellefteå?

- Yes, what made me stay? I saw the connection to the place at the same time as many others decided it was time to leave. Going against the norm and saying "Why shouldn't I be here?" was a big part. I think there was a lot of stubbornness and rebellion involved.

Text: Sofia Hedenström

Photo: Tilda Olofsgård