What is democracy for you?
I think democracy is about being allowed to exist, speak, and be seen without fear. It is not fixed, but something that must be practiced and protected every day, especially for those whose presence is often questioned.

What would a city or a society be without art?
Without art, society would lose a critical space for questioning and reflection. Art helps create public discourse beyond policies and institutions, giving shared life meaning rather than reducing it to function alone.

Art builds community by enabling imagination, empathy, and new perspectives. Do you see yourself in this context?
I hope my work can take part in this conversation. As a queer artist, my practice actively expands who is represented and challenges normative ideas of belonging, creating space for experiences and voices that are often excluded.

A healthy nature and cyclical thinking are fundamental for human well-being and democracy. How does your art reflect this?
In my work, nature is a space of coexistence rather than a backdrop. Bodies, time, and inner states unfold together, shaped by rhythms of presence, pause, and return.

Do you think artists and poets can help people imagine alternative worlds?
Absolutely. Throughout art history, artists have challenged how society understands power, identity, and belonging, from early modernist experiments to feminist, queer, and postcolonial practices. Rather than offering solutions, art has created spaces to question the existing order and imagine other ways of living.

 About the artist:

Elli Asker (b. 1972, Baku, Azerbaijan) lives and works in Södertälje, Sweden. Self-taught photographer. Exhibited at the Hasselblad Center, Liljevalchs konsthall, among others.

More information: www.elliasker.com