VARDAGS-NISSE
There used to be a quite well known humor magazine in Sweden, called “Söndags-Nisse” (Sundays-Nisse), where famous cartoonists were published. And there was another Nisse, a much less known cartoonist, who used to portray people from his small hometown and write funny poems about them.
This project is an attempt to draw a portrait of him.
It was a white snowy night in Tranås, Sweden.
I was asked to create an art project about Nisse Afzelius, a local cartoonist from the past. I had spent weeks watching and rewatching his illustrations. They were portraying his fellow citizens and friends, who were now starting to grow as a crowd inside my head. Among this multitude of faces and bodies, I was feeling the lack of something, though, a missing face: Nisse's face. I felt as if I was walking in that crowd searching for his outlines, in vain.
Tranås was silent and my studio was probably one of the few rooms lit at that time of night. I had almost fallen asleep when...
...some men entered the room!
I recognised them immediately and I asked them for a portrait of their author...
about the project
There used to be a quite well known humor magazine in Sweden, called “Söndags-Nisse” (Sundays-Nisse), where famous cartoonists were published. And there was another Nisse, a much less known cartoonist, who spent his life portraying people from his small hometown and writing funny poems about them. It is thanks to Nisse Afzelius and few other local cartoonists - Karl Afzelius, Bertil Hurtig - that the town of Tranås (Jönköping's county, south of Sweden) can praise such a rich and lively set of portraits of its heroes, otherwise forgotten.
As opposed to the better known "Söndags-Nisse" (Sundays-Nisse), this project focuses on the figure of “Vardags-Nisse” (Everydays-Nisse), a symbol of all humble and invisible portrayers and chroniclers of small-scale stories. A figure with no face, Nisse's portrait is sketched to us by his own characters.
Written and animated by Laura Bianco, curated by Seher Uysal and commissioned by Kultivera.
more about Nisse Afzelius
Nils "Nisse" Afzelius was born 10th of July 1912 in Tranås. Like his father, he was a cartoonist and mostly drew bigwigs and real characters from the Tranås area. In 1931, he began drawing for Mellansvenskt idrottsliv (Midswedish sports life), a sports magazine existing at the time, where he used to draw caricatures of footballers. Three years later, he took over from his father in drawing for Tranås Julbocken (Tranås Yule Goat) and worked with this publication between 1936-1938 and 1948-1956.
With his playful and mocking style, he was able to depict people and events in an accurate way. His cartoons were often accompanied by his teasing poems, written in rhyme. With his drawings, he took part in various local exhibitions.
the original illustrations (and poems)
