Stina Aldén is a Swedish artist based in Glasgow working primarily with analogue photography. Through the act of performance, Stina raises themes of otherness, climate, gender, body-image, heritage and traditions in order to highlight their upbringing within a hyper-masculine, and labour intensive environment. Their practice focuses mostly on the photographic analogue process, but is no stranger to sculpture and text. Metal is a reoccurring material in their sculptural framing, echoing the impact of such masculine backgrounds still making their mark.

See Stina’s work as part of our exhibition of work by emerging artists, Starter Pack, curated by gallery intern Hope Reynolds. Starter Pack is many things: it’s a grass roots opportunity for artists to begin, or expand on, their repertoire of exhibitions, to connect with other artists in Glasgow, to further their understanding of working with galleries and curators, and to gain publicity. Starter Pack runs at Six Foot from August 12th to August 26th.

Hi Stina! Tell us about your artistic background – what is your earliest memory of being interested in art? 
I come from a very non-artistic background, have very strong memories of wanting to know more about art but being completely terrified of it. A strong feeling of it not being something I had the right or space to explore. Growing up in rural village where everything where your worth is seen through hard physical labour, I thought art was nothing for me. However, seeing my older sister starting to explore her creativity in music made me think think otherwise. When I had finished high school I decided to move to Stockholm, and started working in the cafe at the Modern Museum of Art. That summer Marina Abramović was showing her retrospective show ’The Cleaner’ at the museum and I was completely gobsmacked by it. I can’t tell you have many times I walked through the show. Since then I think I have kind of known that I want art to be take a bigger part in my life. It just took me a few years to realise it.

What is it like to be an emerging artist in today’s climate?
Both exciting and very scary. There are a lot of possibilities out there and many communities and opportunities. But it’s also very competitive and being in the age of social media I feel adds a lot of pressure as well. I identify as a socialist artist and I really struggle with the concept of making a business out of your art. So I think just now I do find it a bit hard being an emerging artist, but it’s probably more about finding out what kind of artist I want to be in today’s climate.

How did studying at an institution shape you as an artist? Did the
experience impact your work or methods?
It impacted my work immensely. Without the support of an institution I would think I would have anything to do with art in the sense I am now. It was the support of my tutors at my foundation course in Sweden who made me believe I could do it, so without that support I don’t think I would be making art. Studying art has also allowed me to explore so many different methods of making work, and has encourage me to be experimental and push myself in new directions. I have always felt extremely privileged to be able to attend these institutions because it just enables you to explore yourself and what you’re interested in. And the amount of time you get to spend on it is truly such a gift and something I think is so valuable.

Who or what inspires you? Do you interact with your inspirations?
I’m mostly inspired people and nature, and spending time in places similar to where I grew up. I believe I am inspired by own grief and find a lot of motivation to make work when processing such feelings.

Can you elaborate on the themes you explore in your work?
The themes I am most often tackling in my work is confronting versus aspiring to masculinity, how labour and solitude effects us humans, gender, heritage, climate and the relationship between human and non-human. The majority of the thesis themes can be tracked to back to my upbringing and the confusion and frustration I’ve felt while growing up. And now, as an adult, being attracted to those things that frustrated me as I was younger. Therefore a lot of my work comes back to the human hypocrisy, and how we can carry so many different feelings inside of us and them constantly being in a sort of conversation with each other.

What is your chosen medium, why do you enjoy working with it?
I mostly work with analogue photography. I work in medium format most of the time, using the same camera and same set up. Taking self portraits has become somewhat of a ritual and I enjoy the slowness and the solitude of it. Then printing in the darkroom also allows for that slow process to continue and I feel like in a time where everything moves so fast, I really rely on my process taking the time it needs and it gives me the space to really think through what I’m doing and what I want to achieve. Lately I have also started incorporating performance and metal-sculpture making into my work, which has proven important to the work.

The performance part allows me to explore my relationship to an audience and what it does to me and my work. And making in metal connects me to my past, having a dad who is a welder and growing up in a community centred around a steel factory.

Find out more about Stina’s work on Instagram. Starter Pack runs at Six Foot Gallery until Tuesday 26th August 2025.