Selected artists for the portfolio residency program PortRe 2023

Camilla edström ödemark and edith hammar are the two artists selected for PortRe 2023 - A portfolio residency program for emerging visual artists

PortRe is the Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark’s 1-week long residency program in Copenhagen with focus on the artist’s portfolio. It is operated in collaboration with The Stina Krook Foundation (FIN) and was launched in 2019. The purpose of PortRe is to create an opportunity for emerging Finnish, or Finland-based, visual artists to come to Copenhagen and present their portfolios to a number of established actors on the Danish cultural field. For example, gallerists, art critics, curators, collectors or other art professionals and commence on a constructive conversation around the artist’s portfolio. The portfolio is an important and necessary tool for visual artists, yet artists rarely have the possibility to discuss them with the people evaluating them. The aim with the program is to provide this possibility for emerging artists, in an early stage of their career, as a unique opportunity for development and rewarding dialogue between artists and art professionals.  

PortRe is a residency program by invitation only and welcomes 2 artists a year for a duration of 1 week each. The artists are selected by The Stina Krook Foundation's board from candidates suggested by the foundation’s art experts: Kai Kartio and Helen Korpak. 

This year’s selected artists are Camilla Edström Ödemark and Edith Hammar. Their residency periods will take place during 2023-2024. 

Camilla Edström Ödemark holds a Master of Fine Arts from The Academy of Fine Art in Oslo and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Konstfack in Stockholm. Edström Ödemark creates sculptures and installations that at first glance appear harmonious, but on closer inspection reveal elements of sophisticated yet aggressive dissonance. Her works reveal the brutality of nature and the unpredictability of everything. The timeless and changeable meets the modern and hard as Edström Ödemark works with everything from birch wood and insects to silicone and metal.

Edith Hammar holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. Hammar's artworks create a unique and urgent world, and their visual style is easily recognisable with its pitch-black lines and motifs depicting people confident in their sexuality. Hammar solidified their position as a pioneer in Finnish-Swedish queer art when they published the acclaimed comic book Homo Line in 2020, and in 2023 Hammar's art feels more relevant than ever. The freedom depicted in their art is still a utopia, but it gives us strength to believe in a more equal and enjoyable tomorrow. 

The Stina Krook Foundation

The purpose of the Stina Krook Foundation is to support and promote visual arts and performing arts with a special consideration of the Swedish-speaking population in Finland. Stina Nicolaisen, née Krook, established the foundation in December 1976. The first awards were presented on Stinas' birthday on 15 March 1978. As of 2019, the foundation has distributed more than 500 awards to a total amount of 2 million euro. The surprise and joy has been great among the receivers, as the foundation does not accept applications. Instead, the board make its decisions based on suggestions by experts in the field of visual arts and performing arts.