Åsa Elzén studied in Dublin, Stockholm and New York. Visiting Stockholm to take part in the seminar ‘Paintings in a Library’ at Stockholm’s Stadsbiblioteket we met to discuss amongst other works her recently completed project ‘Mary Wollstonecraft’s Scandinavian journey 1795 re-traced’, 2008-2012. This multi-part work centres upon the feminist theorist Mary Wollstonecraft’s (1759-1797) travelogue of a journey through Scandinavia during the summer of 1795. Wollstonecraft had previously published ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ (1792), considered by many to be the founding text of Western feminism. The precise reasoning behind Wollstonecraft’s trip is clouded in speculation and is the subject of much mythology. Employing Wendy Brown’s approach of ‘radically re-thinking temporality’ Elzén offers another reading of the possible narratives within this fascinating story.

Åsa Elzén lives between Stockholm and Berlin and is a member of Yes! Association / Föreningen JA!