The hour of meeting evil spirits
The hour of meeting evil spirits by Johan Thurfjell was created from digitally processed Japanese woodcuts from the early 19th century. This calming, slow, and silent film takes the viewer though a foggy landscape. Across the sea, forests, hills, and scattered buildings, towards the mountains, floating along deserted streets, into backyards, and through empty houses, before coming back over the sea again.
Japanese mythology is full of spirits, good and evil. It was believed that the line between our world and that of the spirits was at its thinnest during the dim blue light of dusk. This was the time when the boundary between the world of the living and the dead was at its most delicate; then the spirits could come over into our world and we into theirs. This hour is called Omagatoki; The hour of meeting evil spirits.
In The hour of meeting evil spirits, and in his recent works, Thurfjell explores the borderland between wakefulness and sleep, fantasy and reality, life and death. His imagery often touches upon people’s need to picture paranormal and spiritual phenomena. This interest was prompted by Thurfjell’s relationship with his father, who lived with Alzheimer’s for a decade before his passing.
Johan Thurfjell (b. 1970 in Solna) received his MFA at the University College of Art Craft & Design in Stockholm in 2002. Since then he has participated in several group exhibitions both in Sweden and abroad and has received a number of prizes and grants in Sweden. He currently lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.
Johan Thurfjell works in many different medias and materials. His body of work contains everything from drawings and objects to computer generated images, animation and video.
The hour of meeting evil spirits
Johan Thurfjell
2022
19:45 mins
Silent, color
Stills from The hour of meeting evil spirits. Courtesy of the artist.
Thurfjell also currently shows his solo exhibition "Den andra sidan" (The other side) at Fullersta Gård in Huddinge. In a review in Svenska Dagbladet, Joanna Persman writes:
“Johan Thurfjell is a master at creating clever twists in his enigmatic rooms. Much is based on surprises and the power of suggestion. The atmosphere is charged, but nothing feels particularly threatening here. … We stand among the shadows, at eye level with death, without having to fear it. There is a marvellous comfort in that.”
(Swedish original: "Johan Thurfjell är en mästare på att skapa kluriga vändningar i sina gåtfulla rum. Mycket bygger på överraskningar och suggestionskraft. Stämningen är laddad, men ingenting känns särskilt hotfullt här. … Vi står bland skuggorna i ögonhöjd med döden utan att behöva frukta den. Det finns ett slags vidunderlig tröst i det.")
Read the full review here (Swedish).