Artists & exhibitions

The Sprig of Thyme: Ebba Bohlin meets the collections of the Hagströmer Library

Hagströmer Library presents "The Sprig of Thyme", an exhibition in which artist Ebba Bohlin explores ethnobotany – the relationship between humans and the plant world. In new works in film, photography, sculpture and installation, Bohlin's artistry meets the library's extensive collections of botanical works from the 1480s onwards.

📅 16 October 2025 - 18 February 2026
📍 Hagströmer Library, Karolinska Institutet

Photo: Ebba Bohlin

During 2024-25, Bohlin has worked with works from the Hagströmer Library's unique collections and carried out what she calls botanical self-reflections – an artistic journey that makes plant science visible as an important part of both science and culture. The works are presented together with a selection of original works from the library's botanical collections. The relationship between humans and plants was once existentially necessary for survival – as medicine and food, but also deeply embedded in culture. That dependence is just as absolute today. Without the ecosystem of the plant kingdom, the conditions for human life on Earth would collapse.

Ebba Bohlin (1976) is educated at Konstfack and lives in Stockholm. She works with installations where spatiality and bodily experiences are central. Bohlin shows a sensitivity to the material's inherent possibilities for change – regardless of whether it is taken from language, nature or her own body. The visual overwhelming has been a central element in Bohlin's conceptually driven artistry since the blue scaffolding "Bauwerk I" was shown at Konstfack's graduation exhibition in 2008. She works with both exhibitions and large-scale permanent works in public environments, such as "Brunkeberg's memory" at the entrance to Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm and "Spridningsvägar" at Tomteboda (2022).

In the spring of 2025, she completed a work stay at the San Michele Foundation in Capri, which became an important part of the research work for this exhibition.

Contact person
Anna Lantz
hagstromerlibrary@ki.se
08-524-86828

Planning your visit
The exhibition can only be visited by appointment, due to limitations on the number of visitors that can be in the library at one time.

Welcome to book your visit via e-mail to: hagstromerlibrary@ki.se