UNDER EARTH

Without soil, no harvest. Under the surface of the ground are rare-earth elements which are key components in much of modern technology. These basic elements are considered crucial to our so-called green transition, but extracting them requires massive interventions in nature. This screen shows works by two artists, Olle Kåks and Odd Uhrbom, each in their own way drawing our attention to what earth is and what it gives. Uhrbom’s images helped spark a debate that resulted in better working conditions for Swedish miners. How can contemporary art advocate against exploitation of labour and the Earth’s resources?

Olle Kåks’s painting “Earth” is one half of a diptych, a work in two parts. The part that is not featured here is called “Life”; its composition is in the artist’s typical style, with fragmentary, realistic imagery. “Earth” has a totally different character. The surface is covered in shades of brown, as if someone had shovelled garden soil onto the canvas.

Odd Uhrbom shot his “Mine” series in 1968, the year before Kåks painted this closeup of soil. The photographs were published in a book with text by the author Sara Lidman, portraying the miners’ conditions at LKAB’s mines in Kiruna and Malmberget, in the north of Sweden. Mining puts enormous pressure on both people and eco-systems. Uhrbom’s empathetic images convey the harsh, dirty labour in a way that makes it hard to look away. His book became very popular and is considered to be a contributing factor behind the major mining strike in Sweden in 1969.

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