© Emma AdBåge, from her picture book Såret [The Wound]
© Emma AdBåge, from her picture book Såret [The Wound]

Press release -

Bildmuseet: Swedish Picture Book of the Year / The Wound

Emma AdBåges’s Såret [The Wound] has been awarded the Snöbollen [Snowball] prize for Swedish Picture Book of the Year. Bildmuseet’s exhibition of original illustrations from the winning book will open on Friday 26 May. Journalists are welcome to contact us for previews and interviews.

Among the picture books published last year, Emma AdBåge’s The Wound has been named the very best. It is a book about getting hurt, sustaining a wound, and suddenly finding yourself the centre of attention. The blood is scary but at the same time, the attention is a bit wonderful. But what happens afterwards, when the wound has healed? Who cares about a little scar?

The book has been named the best Swedish picture book published in 2022 and has been awarded the national Snöbollen (Snowball) prize. Emma AdBåge, who created both the pictures and the text, received the prize during Littfest, Umeå International Literature Festival, in spring 2023. The exhibition at Bildmuseet presents original drawings and sketches for the book, and the museum visitor can hear Emma AdBåge talk about how it came about. 

The Wound draws the reader into an everyday drama with an existential background. Facial expressions and poses confirm the drama of the moment, and examples of image creation as a form of processing are given here. Emma AdBåge allows the visual aspect to reinforce the theme through the red accent colour as a contrast to the institutionally pale environment. 

The exhibition Swedish Picture Book of the Year / The Wound is produced by Bildmuseet and curated by Brita Täljedal, who is also a member of the Snowball jury. The programme accompanying the exhibition includes the opening event with an artist talk and book signing, as well as school visits and activities in the creative workshop for museum visitors of all ages. Swedish Picture Book of the Yearis a recurring exhibition presented at Bildmuseet for the twelfth year.

Emma AdBåge (b. 1982, Linköping) is one of Sweden’s most acclaimed creators of picture books. She made her debut in 2001 and has since written and illustrated several books of her own, as well as illustrated more than thirty texts by other authors. AdBåge has received several prizes and awards, such as the 2013 Elsa Beskow Plaque, the 2018 August Prize, the 2020 Premio Andersen Award, the 2022 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, and the 2022 Heffaklumpen Children’s Culture Prize. Hon was nominated for the August Prize in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, and 2022 when she was also nominated for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize

This spring, Emma AdBåge received the Snöbollen prize for the best picture book published in 2022. The award is presented by Krumelur – the association for young words in the north, the Pilgatan Cultural Association, County Library of Västerbotten, Littfest, Umeå International Literature Festival, the Association of Swedish Illustrators and Graphic Designers, the municipality of Umeå, and Bildmuseet.

Press previews from now on
Welcome to contact us for a press preview and/or interviews. Press images can be downloaded via Bildmuseet’s website.

Opening on Art Friday 26 May 17:00–24:00
The exhibition is inaugurated at 17:00 by a conversation between Emma AdBåge and Brita Täljedal, curator, followed by book signing. Two more exhibitions will open at Bildmuseet this evening: Down North / Contemporary Art in the Arctic and the master’s degree show I Cut across the Stream / Umeå Academy of Fine Arts. Also, a live concert with Dreaming Wild, DJs Annika Norlin and Bottenvikens Silverkyrka, restaurant and bar until midnight. Read more about the opening evening.

Further information
Brita Täljedal, museum curator and member of the Snowball jury
brita.taljedal@bildmuseet.umu.se, +46 (0)90-786 77 14

Helena Vejbrink, press contact
helena.vejbrink@bildmuseet.umu.se, +46 (0)90-786 90 73

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Bildmuseet is one of Sweden’s foremost venues for international contemporary art and visual culture. The exhibitions are produced in collaboration with artists, museums and universities worldwide, and often attract both national and international attention. As a visitor, you are invited to participate in guided tours and creative workshops, listen to artist talks, debates, lectures and live music, watch film screenings and attend other events.


Housed in an acclaimed building at the Umeå Arts Campus, right next to the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå Institute of Design and Umeå School of Architecture, Bildmuseet is a part of Umeå University – one of Sweden's largest institutions of higher learning with over 36000 students and 4,000 employees. It is a multifaced university where studies and research within the creative realm make up an important part of the university's cornerstone.

Contacts

Helena Vejbrink

Helena Vejbrink

Communication officer Bildmuseet +46 90 786 9073

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Anders Sunna, Torne STYX (detail), 2021. Courtesy of Angelika Knäpper Gallery. © Anders Sunna / Bildupphovsrätt 2023.

Bildmuseet: Down North / Contemporary Art in the Arctic

On 26 May, Bildmuseet in Sweden opens an exhibition with works by thirty contemporary artists from the Arctic regions of the world, a collaboration with art museums in Island and USA. As a journalist, you are welcome to contact us for a press preview of the exhibition.

The master's degree show from Umeå Academy of Fine Arts will run at Bildmuseet from 26 May – 20 August, 2023.

Bildmuseet: I Cut across the Stream / Umeå Academy of Fine Arts

I Cut across the Stream is the title of this year’s master's degree show from Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Sweden. It will open at Bildmuseet on 26 May with an Art Friday event. Welcome to the press preview on Wednesday, 24 May from 10:00–11:00 (R.S.V.P). The artists will be there to present their works.

Umeå University

Umeå University is one of Sweden's largest universities with over 37,000 students and 4,300 employees. The university is home to a wide range of education programmes and world-class research in a number of fields. Umeå University was also where the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 was discovered – a revolution in gene-technology that was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Founded in 1965, Umeå University is characterised by tradition and stability as well as innovation and change. Education and research on a high international level contributes to new knowledge of global importance, inspired, among other things, by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The university houses creative and innovative people that take on societal challenges. Through long-term collaboration with organisations, trade and industry, and other universities, Umeå University continues to develop northern Sweden as a knowledge region.

The international atmosphere at the university and its unified campus encourages academic meetings, an exchange of ideas and interdisciplinary co-operation. The cohesive environment enables a strong sense of community and a dynamic and open culture in which students and staff rejoice in the success of others.

Campus Umeå and Umeå Arts Campus are only a stone's throw away from Umeå town centre and are situated next to one of Sweden's largest and most well-renowned university hospitals. The university also has campuses in the neighbouring towns Skellefteå and Örnsköldsvik.

At Umeå University, you will also find the highly-ranked Umeå Institute of Design, the environmentally certified Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics and the only architectural school with an artistic orientation – Umeå School of Architecture. The university also hosts a contemporary art museum Bildmuseet and Umeå's science centre – Curiosum. Umeå University is one of Sweden's five national sports universities and hosts an internationally recognised Arctic Research Centre.

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