Motala Konsthall, Sweden.
11th January – 8th February 2014.
Including an artist talk on the 15th January.
Your spaces are my places too is a two person exhibition featuring Helga Steppan and Cecilia Danell. They share the same hometown, Motala in Sweden, but through spending many years abroad, in England and Ireland respectively, their notion of home goes way beyond the invisible boundaries of their shared place of origin.
Their two separate artistic practices intertwine in a series of artworks where not only Motala is their common (starting)point, but also their way of investigating, exploring and trying to understand their identity and environment through examining their past, their present locations and their everyday experiences. Through an exchange of photographs, conversations and explorations of each other’s locations using GPS coordinates, they have come to know and be inspired by the other person’s creative process. This approach shows that what binds them together extends beyond their shared origins and is made visible through the way they work and the themes they collectively share.
In the space between Cecilia Danell’s and Helga Steppan’s two and three dimensional artworks, the visitor is invited to explore the artists’ investigations into their own Self, expressed through a personal and (local) site-specific sense of place which can also be interpreted on a universal level. Together they present an exhibition spanning painting, photography, sculpture and possibly one or two moving image pieces.
Helga Steppan (b. 1976) graduated from The Royal College of Art in London 2004 and works and lives in-between Malmö, Sweden and London, UK. She has exhibited widely in England, Sweden and Internationally. In 2013 she was part of the exhibition series In Dialogue with the Collections at Gothenburg Museum of Art and also exhibited solo with Kaleidoscopia at Ahlbergshallen, Östersund, after being awarded Härke Konststipendium (Artist Grant) in 2012. She received a two-year working grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee in 2011 and is currently represented by Man&Eve Gallery in London. Her work is represented in several art collections, including The Cardinal Collection, The London Clinic Collection and Linköping and Östersund Council Art Collections.
Cecilia Danell (b. 1985) graduated from the paint department of The Campus of Creative Arts and Media, GMIT Galway, in 2008, where she was awarded Paint Student of the Year. She lives and works in Galway, Ireland and has exhibited in Ireland and America. In 2013 she represented Sweden in Kaleidoscope: Art from EU Member States, at Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin. In 2012 she had solo exhibitions in the Talbot Gallery, Dublin and the Wexford Arts Centre. Danell was the recipient of the 2011 Wexford Arts Centre Emerging Artist Award and she has received bursaries and project awards from the Irish Arts Council (2010, 2011) and Galway City Council (2013). Her work is in the OPW collection and the Wexford County Council art collection.
Further information (in Swedish) and Swedish language Press release can be found at:
Motala Konsthall’s own website