›In Purple‹ 2019

For ›In Purple‹ Johanna Billing worked closely with a group of young dancers from Råslätt, Sweden, who founded a dance school for young women in their neighbourhood. Råslätt emerged during an ambitious public housing programme in the 1970s. In the district, fields for sports with male connotations dominate public space. The dance school directly responds to the lack of leisure activities for girls and enjoys an exemplary status among local politics. Despite their importance within their community, the young women work voluntarily under precarious conditions. In Billing’s film, we follow the dancers through the outside spaces near their studio, passing on tinted glass plates. The fragility of this procession becomes a symbol of collective action and a demonstration of claiming space.