In autumn 2025, Swedish sculptor Eva Hild expanded her presence in public art across the Nordic region with the unveiling of Layer in Drøbak, a coastal town in Frogn municipality just south of Oslo.
The work is a permanent addition to Skulpturstopp, a prestigious Norwegian initiative that places sculptures in public spaces across the country.
The site choice was intentional and unconventional. Rather than positioning the sculpture at the more obvious waterfront location, Hild chose the forecourt of Smia Flerbrukshus — a multipurpose community building with an almost industrial character.
The decision reflects one of Hild’s consistent concerns: that art should encounter people in ordinary life rather than in settings already framed as exceptional.
Layer is constructed from aluminium, assembled in lamellae and open cavities that create a visual sense of transparency and movement. The result, as Hild has described it, is an “organic self-portrait” — a rare direct statement about the autobiographical dimension of her abstract practice. The interplay of form and void that characterises all her work functions here as something explicitly personal: a record of the sculptor’s interior life left in a public space.
The work took four years from initial concept to completion. At the unveiling, Hild addressed the people of Drøbak directly: “It is an organic self-portrait that I leave behind here. Now take good care of it.” She expressed her hope that the local community would take ownership of the sculpture over time — perhaps even giving it their own names.
Eva Hild works from her studio in Sparsör, Sweden. Her practice moves between intimate-scale ceramics and stoneware, through to large public commissions in lacquered steel and aluminium. Layer joins a growing body of permanent outdoor works across Scandinavia and internationally.
Sculpture LAYER in painted aluminium – part of Skulpturstopp in Frogn kommune, Norway. Inauguration October 2025.
Some photos from Mesén.
Images and content courtesy of Eva Hild.