BLODSTEN

...'In the exhibition, Danish artist Sonja Strange grapples with a local legend about the bloodstone at Ruds Vedby near Sorø - one of the many giant boulders scattered around Denmark as relics of the last ice age, when they were moved here by large glaciers. In the legend of the bloodstone, it is said that in ancient times the stone was used for sacrifices. Signs of this can be found on the surface of the stone, which bears at least 52 concave so-called cup mark, the very first known type of petroglyph. In ancient times, these cups marks were filled with offerings such as butter, food or flowers sacrificed to a higher power, for example to help the crops succeed. In her video work, Sonja Strange examines different approaches to death  and the rituals associated with loss. At the same time, she processes her own grief over the loss of her parents, who died a few years apart. In the video we follow three figures, dressed in ceremonial costumes dyed with woad and hematite, as they bring offerings to the stone. A so-called dis (a Norse deity reminiscent of a valkyrie) then arrives on horseback to fetch the sacrificial offerings to the realm of the dead. The coloured textiles in which the offerings were carried have been re-processed into an abstract circular painting - now animated and imbued with added significance by the ceremony that took place during the sacrifice. The exhibition also includes the garments worn by the dis, as well as two flint axes found by the stone. With this move, Strange seeks to return to the roots of the rituals that have left their mark on the local area.' by Mathilde Helnæs, curator at Sorø Artmusuem.