An artwork in memory of Gzim

Through his work Knutte Wester tells real stories of people who have suffered injustice, deficiencies and abuses in society.

Like Gzim, the sad little boy sitting on a bench in the street of Smedjegatan in Västerås. This scuplture is the representation of the memory of Gzim, whom he met in a refugee camp in Boliden, in northern Sweden. Gzim and his family were deported to Kosovo in 2003.

Or the story of homeless Ivona and her three children, or the children of the Ziemeli orphanage in Riga.

Knutte Wester also recounts the dramatic education and life of her grandmother Hervor, an extra-marital child who grew up in an orphanage in Stockholm in the early 1900s. He made 650 watercolours which became the basis of the animated documentary film “Horungen”.

Using her work to give a voice to undocumented refugees, the homeless and other vulnerable members of society, Knutte Wester illustrates the importance of having a sense of belonging and stability, as well as the ephemeral and unpredictable nature of life that puts all material things in danger of slipping away and disappearing into the air.

Knutte Wester graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Umeå in 2003 and has participated in several group and solo exhibitions in Moscow, Johannesburg and Stockholm.

You can see some of his works in Uppsala, Örebro, Umeå, Karskrona, Västerås…

Knutte Wester
Galleri Andersson / Sandström
Goteborgs Konsthall
Ekuriren