Pernilla Zetterman's photographs represent simple, everyday objects or people in a straight forward and objective manner; they have a cool and distant feel to them. In her project When, which the artist started in 2004, she focused on issues concerning identity, especially the heritage of behavioral patterns that are transmitted from one generation to the next. Using her personal surroundings and private life as a case study, she observed the behavior of her grandmother, her mother, and herself, in order to detect behavioral and psychological patterns that are transmitted from one generation to the next.
Part of the project was the series Behave from 2005, in which she illustrated details and everyday items from her own home as well as those of her grandmother and mother. Once again, Pernilla Zetterman was looking for connections between family members and their compulsion to repeat (or not!) set patterns.
In the two series Ground Rules and Close, the artist started to focus on behavior patterns in the world of sports, an environment defined by high expectations of performance, self-control, and discipline. Ground Rules refers to athletics and Close to the equestrian culture. In the later, close-up images of horse's bodies are juxtaposed with fetish-like representations of leather objects used as riding equipment. With this combination the artist studies the dominant but also sensual relation between human and animal.
Pernilla Zetterman was born in 1970 in Stockholm. Lives and works in Stockholm. Postgraduate studies between 2004-05 at the University of Art and Design Helsinki (todays Aalto University School of Art and Design).