Wilda L. Wennelin (b. 1999) is a Stockholm-based multidisciplinary artist working within jewellery and corpus, educated at Konstfack. Metal plays a central role in her practice, where the body serves both as a point of departure and as a site of resistance.
Her practice explores how contemporary beauty ideals are shaped by historical, medical, and cultural structures. Drawing on references such as the early development of plastic surgery in the first half of the 20th century, the disciplining function of the corset in the 19th century, and today’s postoperative compression garments, she reveals how bodies are adapted to norms that are presented as individual choices but are in fact systemic. By combining the sensual with the uncomfortable, she creates objects that occupy the borderland between jewellery, tools, and bodily prostheses.
Current Obsession: Could you tell us the story behind your graduation project and what drew you to the subject?
Wilda Wennelin: I grew up closely entangled with social media and have noticed its patterns, both in how they affect me personally and society at large. The project aims to highlight the absurdity of how bodies are used as both a status symbol and a vehicle for advertising, and to question how our desires and perceptions of beauty are shaped. I want to understand why we do what we do and why we look the way we do.
CO: Beyond the gallery, where do you see your work taking root and finding its life? Who do you hope to reach with your work?
WW: I believe the majority of people are affected, or influenced, by social media in some way. I know I am, and so are all my friends. I hope my project reaches teenagers and young adults, who are probably the most affected by social media, and that it offers them some comfort. The place where I can reach them is the same place I drew my inspiration from – social media.
CO: What’s your favourite studio ritual?
WW: To be honest?
- Grab a coffee
- Work like a maniac
- Lunch break
- Work like a maniac
- Go home
- Do admin and apply for everything… like a maniac
- Sleep
- Repeat until you get a positive reply, and then feel like it’s worth the work 🙂
Those kinds of weeks really make you feel alive.
