ÖMSA SKINN No. 3

Size: 40 cm x 40 cm
 
Technique: Acrylic/Mixed media
 
 
Mickey Mouse appears in all of my paintings — sometimes clearly, sometimes hidden… a little like my playful signature within the artwork.
The story behind it is that my family emigrated to Chicago around the year 1900 from Luleå.
Part of the family built a future there, while others struggled to survive on day wages — and often, the wages were spent on drink. My great-grandmother had had enough and left the promised land only four years later, returning to Luleå with failure packed in her suitcase and four children in hand. She lived a poor life as a laundress but managed to raise my grandmother and her three sisters.
 
Around 1930, a package arrived from America containing a felt Mickey Mouse doll — with bendable arms and legs, black leather pants, and yellow leather shoes. It became a beloved friend of the family, and my own memory of Mickey comes from when I was little. The doll hung from my grandmother’s telephone cord. Their Bakelite phone was mounted on the wall in the hallway, and when my grandmother answered, Mickey would bounce up and down on the curly cord.
 
When I turned 40, I was honoured to inherit this toy from my mother and aunt, continuing its journey through the family. As a child of the 1960s, I’ve never missed a Christmas without Mickey and his friends.

I’m a huge Mickey Mouse fan!!