Dr Annika Larsson
Senior researcher and film maker in Textile history & Viking Age Archaeology
PhD at Uppsala University, Sweden, Dept of Archaeology and Ancient History
annika.larsson@textilarkeologi.se
I am educated as a textile designer at the Swedish Textile Institute, but I also hold a PhD as a researcher in textile history and archeology at Uppsala University, with specialist competence in the Scandinavian Viking Age and the early Middle Ages. The title of my thesis is WARRIORS CLOTHING : SHIFT IN SCANDINAVIAN COSTUME AROUND THE YEAR 1000. It illustrates, through textiles and costume, the cultural shift that took place in Eastern Scandinavia when the pre-Christian Viking Age transitioned, from an Eastern-influenced cultural sphere, into a Christian Western European and medieval cultural affiliation.
For some years, I am now working on a follow-up research project with the overall title ACTS OF ART(e)FACTS : OBJECTS AS SUBJECTS IN CRAFT-BASED RESEARCH. This project was developed during my time at the Research Craft Lab at the University of Art, Craft & Design in Stockholm, in collaboration with the World Heritage Museums. With inspiration from John Becker's practice-based textile historical research, I trace cultural encounters in time and space based on materials, technical equipment and the integration of cultural expressions and idioms between East and West.
One of the most mythologized historical eras of our time is the Viking Age, with narratives spread all over the world. Not least in popular culture, but also in academia, outdated identity-creating textile myths from the 19th century still play a key role. With support from mentors in film-making, such as Dani Kouyate, Ewa Cederlund and the gold-awarded Ellen Fiske, I have lately invested wholeheartedly in conveying empirical knowledge through historical documentary. With economic support from the Nordic Culture Fund, my co-researcher Mohamed Guennoun and I got the possibility to present the movie VIKING BLISS for a European audience, in Budapest in 2022. Another presentation followed at The International Symposium for Silk Road Textiles at Metropolitan in New York, organized in collaboration with China National Silk Museum.
My practical work is mainly carried out in the craft studios in the inspiring setting of Wik Castle, which originates from the Middle Ages. In parallel, I work as a textile guest teacher in historical pattern construction at the Institute for Sloyd & Crafts, at Sätergläntan in Dalarna.
Publications and presentation papers - a selection
2021. Asian Silk in Scandinavian Viking Age Scandinavia. Based on the boat- and chamber graves in Eastern Mälar Valley, Sweden. In: Fragments of Eurasia. Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. Eva Myrdal (ed.). Page 107-148.
https://www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/siteassets/pdf/bmfea/web_bmfea-81_low-210215.pdf
2020. Viking Age silk in present-day Central Sweden. From a textile technical perspective. Conference paper presentation, Beauty, Power, Mysteries. Silk in Byzantine Commonwealth and beyond. The material evidence. Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa (GWZO).
2019. Asian Silk in Scandinavian Viking Age graves. Symposium presentation 4th IASSRT (International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles) symposium in Kislovodsk, Russia. Hosted by Nasledie Institute Scientific Research Institute of Archeology and Ancient History of the North Caucasus (Stavropol)
2018. Myten om Ronja vikingadotter. Larsson, A. & Lind, K. 2018. In: Techne Series - Research in Sloyd Education and Craft Science. NordFo, Åbo Akademi. Peer Review. https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/techneA/article/view/3055/3223
2016-2017. Viking Couture. RJ Project – The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Science: https://www.rj.se/en/anslag/2016/viking-couturepublic-arena-for-research-dialogue-and-communication/
2012. Från dräkt till koppar och järn. In: Birka nu. Red. F. Svanberg. Historiska museet, Stockholm.
2009. Warrior´s clothing in the Rigsþula Poem. In: NESAT X. Center for Tekstilforskning Saxo-institut, Københavns Universitet.
2009. Vikingar begravda i kinesiskt siden. In: VALÖR. Kina. Konstvetenskapliga studier 2008/3-4. Uppsala universitet.
2008-2010. Postdok at The Swedish Research Council: Dnr 435-2007-7953: Epoken "Svitjods" födelse. Om vikten av att undersöka samhällets förutsättningar och orsaken till etableringen av en epok för att förstå även dess undergång. Stockholm University, Dept of Archaeology.
2008. Textiles and clothing. In: The Viking World. Brink & Price (ed.). Routledge publishing.
2008. Förbjöd kyrkan den vikingatida kvinnodräkten? In: Populär arkeologi 1/2008.
2007. Klädd krigare. Skifte i skandinaviskt dräktskick kring år 1000. Phd Department of Archaeology and Ancient History uppsala University, doktorsavhandling institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia Uppsala universitet. Opia 39. Uppsala.