Konstverk Åminnelse

This bronze sculpture stands outside Åminne ironworks, before the railway crossing at the Sjömalmsvägen junction, to commemorate the sea ore extraction in Vidöstern. Ore extraction was done entirely by hand, primarily during the winter months when the ice could support both workers and draught animals. It was heavy work in the cold, wind and snow.

The artwork was purchased by the Municipality of Värnamo in 2000.

The artist Kajsa Mattas was born in Finland but now lives in Stockholm. She is one of the most renowned sculptors in Sweden. She received her artistic training at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm 1975-1981. Since then she has had many exhibitions around the world, but in Sweden she is best known for her bronze sculptures at the Sagerska Palace in Stockholm and for her marble sculpture in the Stockholm City Terminal.

Her works are characterised by pure and sacred forms, understated movement and a rigorous attention to detail, which can be seen in the toned-down design language.

In 2009, she was awarded the Swedish Sculptor’s Association’s Sergelstipendium with the following statement: “Kajsa Mattas is an artist who, with great consistency and small means, imbues her sculptures with a connection between inner and outer reality. Kajsa brings the surface to life. There is a stillness, as worn by the sea for a long time, but also a surface full of emotions, as if something were to explode from within."