Exhibition: Theresa Traore Dahlberg

15 maj – 28 September

Carl Eldhs Ateljémuseum is proud to present the internationally acclaimed artist Theresa Traore Dahlberg (b. 1983), renowned for her monumental sculptures and poetic films.

Ahead of this summer’s major solo exhibition at Carl Eldhs Ateljémuseum, Traore Dahlberg has worked primarily with new and site-specific works. Here we encounter sculptures in melted bronze, copper, hand-blown glass and yarn – materials that carry their own memories.

I have approached the studio through never-before-seen archive material and the tactile tenderness that I experience in several of Carl Eldh’s sculptures. In my exhibition, I want to explore the garden as a place and figure, as a border phenomenon that raises questions about the tension between chance and control in play and nature. A state that invites imaginary worlds and hidden tales, says Theresa Traore Dahlberg.

In dialogue with the studio and the surrounding garden, the museum’s inherent history is also brought to life. The story of Elise and Brita Eldh, their close relationship, between a mother and daughter, is put in a new light. Through Theresa’s gaze, we see for the first time a composite selection of visuals from the family’s time in Los Angeles during the early 20th century. Dreamy, playful and sometimes suggestive images, which in their documentary form works as a capsule of a bygone era.

In late summer, the museum, together with Filmform, invites audiences to a film screening in the sculpture garden. A selection of films that the artist herself has curated will be shown to illuminate the exhibition’s themes in new ways. The exhibition at Carl Eldhs Ateljémuseum will be Traore Dahlberg’s first major solo museum exhibition in Stockholm.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a catalogue will be published with in-depth texts that stem from conversations between the artist and invited authors, poets and researchers. Artist Martina Hoogland Ivanow has been invited to interpret Traore Dahlberg’s artistry in a series of analogue images. The catalogue’s graphic design was developed by art director Maja Kölqvist.

About the artist

Theresa Traore Dahlberg grew up between Öland, Sweden and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. She has studied 16 mm experimental film at the New School in New York and at the Stockholm School of Drama. In 2017 she received a master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Most recently, her work was shown in the exhibition Senapsträdet och himlens alla fåglar at Rikstolvan, in dialogue with works by Siri Derkert, Simrishamn, Sweden (2024) and Black archives. She also participated in the group exhibition Rock my Soul II, curated by Isaac Julien, Stockholm, Sweden (2022). Traore Dahlberg has also had several solo exhibitions, including one at Kalmar Art Museum, Sweden (2021), Institut Suédois, Paris, France (2019) and Musée National du Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (2019). In 2025, she is also showing at CHART Art Fair in Copenhagen and in a group exhibition at Sven-Harrys Konstmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden. Traore Dahlberg has been awarded the Tempo Documentary Short Award for her film The Ambassador’s Wife (2018), which has also been screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin Critics’ Week, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival. Theresa Traore Dahlberg is represented by Andréhn-Schiptjenko in Stockholm and Paris.

Carl Eldh’s Studio Museum would like to express warm thanks to Pontus Bonnier, Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and Anne-Marie Lembcke – The Ad Infinitum Foundation for generous donations, as well as to the Swedish Arts Council, the City of Stockholm and the Stockholm Region for significant cultural support.

Photo: Martina Hoogland Ivanow