Participants
Petter Dahlström Persson (b. 1988) is an artist based in Malmö. He was born in Östersund during his mother's 40th birthday party.
He spent his first years building things that broke easily and fly fishing in different streams. After dropping out of the Theoretical Philosophy class at the University of Gothenburg in 2008, he fully invested his time into analog photography, enrolling in the one-year photography course at Gamleby Folkhögskola and later at the University of Photography in Gothenburg. While studying hard, a lot of time was also spent at flea markets digging out extraordinary objects that he would add to his collection. After dropping out of the photography program, Petter moved to Stockholm to start the fine arts program at Konstfack. He took an interest in large-scale outdoor sculpture and multimedia installations. His final degree exhibition focused on a plot of land outside the Social Security Agency office where he installed six handrails in white-painted steel. He later tried to make the agency buy the work, but it proved problematic. He left Stockholm for Malmö on a French bicycle in August 2015, never to return. Life in Malmö was easy, and the continental vibes suited his blood flow, and after one year he had found studio space in an old chocolate factory named Alta.
He participated in many exhibitions and received grants, primarily working with pigeons, traveled to Iran and Ecuador for trips related to his practice until deciding to pursue an MFA in Rotterdam at the Piet Zwart Institute in 2018. Being 30 years old at the time, Petter found himself in a new environment surrounded by a language he could not understand. He mainly worked with sculpture, developing works with keys, handrails, and wood in 20 structures with Riso-printed wallpaper on them. Suddenly a pandemic hit, and Rotterdam became a silent, desolate place. After working from home for one and a half years, buying flowers from the local mill, and filling Fridays with Gin Rummy card games with his two friends Ash and Christian, he had had enough of the Netherlands and moved back to Malmö and his old studio at Alta Art Space, where he now produces stone and wood sculptures, participates in exhibitions, and produces work for the municipality in Östersund.
