Thea Olivares Widerström

Thea Olivares Widerström (b. 2000) is a visual artist based in Stockholm. Olivares works with themes such as myth, symbolism, storytelling and history through painting. She believes that addressing the everyday through imagination can provide alternative ways of understanding the world, ways that transcend the mundane into the extraordinary.

Ambiguity plays a central role in Olivares’ work. She is fascinated by the different layers of meaning that symbols hold and how interpretation varies depending on the viewer’s experience. For instance, the hand gesture of crossing two fingers is a symbol of blessing in one context, while in another context it is associated with a lie.

Olivares creates visual landscapes where multiple layers of meaning coexist. Through memories, stories and an inner world, she produces paintings that function as treasure maps. Featuring motifs from personal experiences and universal themes, her work exists in a place of exploration where the elusive can flourish.