The landscape came first: Ingela Ihrman's tribute to nature can be seen at Society Expo

At the intersection of industrial heritage, urban development, and the green transition of the future, Skellefteå Art Gallery presents artist Ingela Ihrman's work Landskapet kom först (The Landscape Came First) at the Scharin area in Ursviken as part of Society Expo 2026. By activating a place marked by human exploitation with a work that speaks of nature's absolute origins, the art gallery invites reflection on time and social responsibility.

The landscape first manifests itself as a skeleton approximately twelve meters long, carefully assembled from trees, branches, and roots. The work functions as a material ontology; a reminder that the biological and geological basis precedes all human construction. By giving the landscape a physical body – a backbone resting in the terrain – Ihrman decenters humans as the sole writers of history.

In previous editions (including at the Eden Project in England and Malmö Konsthall), the work has been constructed from trees that have fallen in storms or died of disease. In the Scharin area outside, this takes on a special depth: here, the wooden skeleton meets a land that has borne the weight of industrial success but also its environmental consequences. The sculpture thus becomes a backbone for the site's recovery, where wood – Skellefteå's historical and future gold – is returned to the landscape in a form that exudes both transience and permanence.

Over the past decade, Ingela Ihrman has established herself as one of the most important artists in the Nordic region, known for exploring what it means to be a living being among others with humor, warmth, and deep seriousness.

Ingela Ihrman's work is rooted in a strong tradition of craftsmanship. Her sculptures are often large-scale but always bear traces of the human hand – through stitches, joints, and the tactile processing of the material, an immediate, physical presence is created. Ihrman is not an artist who observes nature from the outside; she steps into it. This ability to empathise with the non-human is central to her creative process.

Ingela Ihrman (b. 1985) is a Stockholm-based artist who explores what it means to live through sculpture, performance, video, and text. Ingela Ihrman is currently exhibiting at Skellefteå Konsthall in the fall of 2026, with an opening in October at Sara Kulturhus, which includes the work Landskapet kom först (The Landscape Came First).