Nathalie Djurberg's Dark Stop-Motion Worlds

Swedish artist Nathalie Djurberg, winner of the Silver Lion for a promising young artist at the 2009 Venice Biennale, creates disturbing stop-motion animations that blend fairy-tale innocence with extreme violence. Her films, often featuring female characters with large eyes and opulent chests, depict dismemberment, sexual abuse, and family aggression in hostile natural settings. Djurberg cites Goya, Céline, and Jake & Dinos Chapman as influences, while her soundtracks are composed by Hans Berg. Her work has gained international attention since the 4th Berlin Biennale in 2006 and exhibitions at Zach Feuer Gallery in New York. Upcoming shows include a group exhibition at Migros Museum in Zurich (December 2009–January 2010), solo exhibitions at Gio Marconi in Milan (spring 2010), and Kristianstad Konsthall in Sweden. Djurberg's recent installation at the Venice Biennale featured giant foam flowers and two films critiquing Catholic Church dignitaries exploiting young girls. Her videos, such as "I Found Myself Alone" (2008) and "Experimentet" (2009), explore political themes and Freudian motifs, with recurring text like "Why do I have to do these things over and over?" Djurberg, born in 1978 in Lysekil, Sweden, and based in Berlin, works primarily with claymation and charcoal animation.