Barbro Ohlson Smith is a Stockholm-based artist, creative director, and podcaster whose practice explores the intersection of space, perception, and human experience.
Drawing on a background in design and creative direction, she brings a distinctive sensitivity to form, atmosphere, and visual storytelling. Educated at Central Saint Martins in London, her work is shaped by an enduring interest in how environments influence emotion and meaning.
A long-standing exploration of life and death, pursued through podcast conversations and research, informs her artistic practice. Through sculpture, installation, and collage, Ohlson Smith examines memory, transformation, and impermanence, creating spaces for reflection and connection.
Selected Works
Hybrid (2025)
Hybrid is a graft between forest and sea. A branch bearing the traces of a shell's life merges with a reef-like formation where polished calcite meets wood. Situated between the found and the constructed, the work reflects on transformation, adaptation, and continuity in an era of climate change and artificial production.
Materials: Wood, seashells, and paint
Dimensions (H × W × D): 10 × 81 × 17 cm
Exhibited: Warsalongen for War Child, Stockholms Auktionsverk, Stockholm, 2026
Mormor (Grandmother) (2022)
Part of a series of textile collages, Mormor (Grandmother) explores inheritance, memory, and the traces left behind by previous generations. Created from textiles inherited from the artist's grandmother Eda, the work honours a life of care and labour while reflecting on how personal histories endure through everyday objects.
Materials: Vintage inherited textiles
Dimensions: (H × W × D): 130 ×150 × 15 cm
2 m, 30 sec (2020)
Created during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2m, 30sec reflects on the rituals of handwashing and physical distancing that became part of daily life. Bars of soap arranged in a two-metre line transform a familiar household object into a sculptural marker of care, solidarity, and collective vulnerability.
Materials: Soap bars and ceramic tiles
Dimensions (H × W × D): 8 × 200 × 21 cm
Exhibited: Vårsalongen, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, 2021
