Join us to celebrate the life and legacy of Swedish artist, writer and activist Monica Sjöö, who spent much of her life in Bristol. Sjöö was a central figure in spiritual feminist circles such as the Goddess movement. She dedicated her life to fighting injustice and was an active member of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Her political activism and relationship to myth and land is present in all of her art, which included painting, collage and drawing.

At this online gathering, hear excerpts of Sjöö’s writings, stories from some of those who knew her and learn more about her work in connection with the exhibition Lucy Stein: Wet Room at Spike Island. Stein cites Sjöö as an influence on her work, and they share many formal and conceptual concerns.

This event also marks the launch of a fanzine dedicated to Monica Sjöö’s art and writing, published by Legion Projects. Order your copy through the Legion Projects website.

MONICA SJÖÖ

Monica Sjöö (1938–2005), was a Swedish painter, writer and a radical anarcho/eco-feminist who was influential in the Goddess movement. She first came to Britain in the late 1950s, and eventually settled in Bristol where she lived for many years, but she also kept a home in Wales. She died of cancer in 2005. Her work has been exhibited in The Mobile Feminist Library: In words, In Action, In Connection, at Mostyn (2021); Women in Abstraction, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2021); Waking the Witch, Legion Projects (2019); Hummadruz, Newlyn Gallery (2018), the Glastonbury Goddess Conference (2003), Women Artists in Wales, Aberystwyth Arts Centre (1984); Womens Liberations Arts Group, Woodstock Gallery, London (1971) and at Gallery Karlsson, Stockholm (1967). In 1987, with Barbara Mohr, she published the book The Great Cosmic Mother. Sjöö’s work will be included in the forthcoming exhibition Radical Landscapes at Tate Liverpool, May, 2022

LEGION PROJECTS

Legion Projects (formerly Legion TV founded in 2012) is an artist-led organisation and an open curatorial collaboration based in the UK. Their projects present artistic work and research through exhibitions, publications and events. They are interested in how the landscapes we inhabit and imagine are connected to the stories we tell each other, our collective and sustainable being and the fabric that makes up the world we live in. A common thread throughout their projects is the exploration of what connects us to the surroundings in which we exist, how we impact the land and how it affects us. Legion Projects have commissioned and developed over forty artists projects across the country, including exhibitions, films, events, talks, publications and online projects.