Sissel Marie Tonn

Sissel Marie Tonn has long been fascinated by “bog bodies”, ancient human remains discovered in northern-Europe peatlands. Archaeologists believe that people in pre-Christian societies saw bogs as portals to worlds of spirits, gods and ancestors, and sacrificed humans to the bog to bargain with these forces. Today, bogs are understood as crucial deposit sites of CO2 that are endangered by climate change and human exploitation. Through video, sound and ceramics Tonn explores the bogs and the bodies as bridges between past, present and future. At EKWC she worked with 3D and CT scans of excavated bog bodies, but imagining a nonintrusive archaeology, she also explored ways to digitally lift the bodies from the bog. In collaboration with the Fab Lab she translated the digital files into physical sculptures. In this expression their bodily form becomes inseparable from the roots of the bog growing over and through them, a strong reminder that we are inextricably entwined with our environment.