The photographed young girl’s face mask does not quite manage to conceal her susceptible, wondering look at what is happening. The works reciprocally illuminate, as we interject our knowledge of the maturing from child to adult. In Slaattelid’s work, the revered monochrome’s genderless essence has landed in our world, where beauty is also associated with colour that contaminates in the form of eye shadow registration in make-up manufacturers clearly defined concepts. It gives cause to contemplate beauty and to wonder whether identity in personal style doesn’t allow for greater potential than the headings Sophisticated, Elegant, Active and Sports.
Carnegie Award 2000, Jury’s Comment
Mari Slaattelid receives the Carnegie Award of 500,000 Swedish crowns for two works with a visual beauty that spans the entire history of painting, from the marking of body with paint to the late modernist monochrome. Slaattelid’s artistic strength is demonstrated through her having gathered this tremendous stretch in one idea and thus giving it contemporary form.