Dinner

Josefin Arnell received a grant for the development of a narrative photo series. The work depicts a tableau vivant starring children portrayed as adults during a vibrant dinner scene. The core theme of adultification relates to coming-of-age stories and larger social issues of heritage, tradition, intergenerational trauma and of changing ideas of childhood and play as a result of new technologies and social media. The background theme of vampires translates this literally: sucking the energy of the youth.

The work by Josefin defines a loaded visual language combining anger, desire, disgust and pleasure. Her films present complex realities, socially marginalized characters and absurd fictionalization. Her films extend to performance, installation, objects, or drawings. Through storytelling loose narratives are often centered around characters that try to navigate in contemporary infrastructures with impossible demands. In 2015 and 2016 she participated in the residency Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. In 2018 she won the Theodora Niemeijer Prijs for emerging female artists in the Netherlands. In 2023 she was nominated for the art prize Prix de Rome, Netherlands. Her work has been shown: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; WIELS, Brussels; Cell Project Space, London; Index, Stockholm; UKS, Oslo; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Athens Biennale; Auto Italia, London; Kunsthalle Münster, Rencontres Internationales, Paris/Berlin, International Documentary Film festival Amsterdam.