Through a collection of postcards, painted and mailed from locations along the west coast, we follow Maija Viola Nürnberger as she walks in the footsteps of Mary Wollstonecraft. Footprints from over 200 years ago. Back then, the British author wrote letters about the people, food and nature of Sweden. Now her words are reflected, set against what it is like to be a part of this country today.

Maija Viola Nürnberger was awarded a scholarship within the Bernadotte Program 2025

Using cartooning as her method, she will set out on a journey to investigate how the image of Sweden has changed over the past 200 years. As a companion on the journey, she will use Mary Wollstonecraft's book, "Letters Written During a Short Stay in Sweden, Norway and Denmark" (1796), which provides a striking picture of the living conditions of the time, especially with regard to the conditions of women. Places, artists and writers from the past and present are woven together in this project through Nürnberger's sensitive and sharp imagery.

The scholarship includes a grant from Axel Hirsch's donation fund, a one-year studio stay and an exhibition at the Art Academy.

Maija Viola Nürnberger, born in 1996, is a British illustrator with Latvian and German roots, who works in Stockholm. She received her Master's degree in Visual Communication from Konstfack in 2023 and previously holds a Bachelor's degree in Illustration Animation from Kingston University London, 2019. She also studied Visual Communication at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in 2017–2018.