The scholarships will this year be handed out by the foundation's board on October 29 in connection with the opening of the scholarship exhibition at Malmö Art Academy.
Practising artist scholars
Lena Bergendahl, born in 1982, is an artist and film director, active in Stockholm and Malmö. She works with film, video, sound and light in a desire to find narrative forms outside the accepted film formats in historically and geopolitically complex environments. They can be found in Nairobi as well as in Malmö, from 18th century scientific experiments to science fiction. Bergendahl has a master's degree from the Royal Institute of Art (Sthlm), 2010.
Nicklas Randau, born in 1989, is a poet and painter, active in Malmö. He works in a lyrical-abstract image tradition, often with monochromes with a vibrating light and brushwork. The titles give the paintings a mental span, while insisting on the tangibility of the color. Watching his work means experiencing the poetic space they work in. Randau has a master's degree from Malmö Art Academy, 2017.
Johan Österholm, born in 1983, is a photographer, active in Stockholm. He is interested in the fundamental property of a photograph, of capturing and holding light. For Österholm, this light is moonlight as well as sunlight, or the distant suns we call stars. The devices for capturing this light, binoculars and telescopes as well as various types of analog cameras, ancient negatives such as glass plates or street lamps, fascinate him and find their way into his exhibitions alongside the photographs - light writing. Österholm has a master's degree from Malmö Art Academy, 2016.
Graduating scholars
Louise Hammer works with stories, but not with its motives, but its premise, its visual grammar.
Olle Helin examines the basis of painting, the pigment and its material connection to a place.
Fanny Hellgren lets nature's processes and course create images and sculptures.
Dag Kewenter examines the insidious undercurrents of history and aesthetics, where innocence and politics meander.
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Edstrand Foundation has awarded significant art work in the Nordic countries with scholarships since 1951 and is one of the largest visual arts scholarships in Sweden. The foundation was founded as a tribute to the siblings Reinhold, Gunhild and Thekla Edstrand's great and dedicated interest in contemporary visual art, on Thekla's 70th birthday, June 27, 1950.
The foundation's scholarships have had a crucial impact in generations of young artists careers by giving them the opportunity to continue their artistic work. A predominant part of our significant Swedish and Nordic artists have at some point of their careers received a scholarship from Edstrandska Stiftelsen.