During the last ten years, Kaja Leijon has divided her artistic practice into two entities: film and photography. Her work aspires towards a plausible fictional universe, although the premise of a linear and reliable narrative is vaguely destabilised by a candid approach to visual anecdotes. Her films often insinuate questions concerning the human condition, where existential problems like alienation, ineptitude and loneliness are epitomised. Her photographs illuminate the neglected and omitted, functioning as a harbour and lawyer for the allure of the seemingly riven. These elements and vistas, like the human fates she describes in her films, are inhabited by universal qualities momentous in their essence. They are poetry manifested as photographs, balancing on the fine line of potential failure, seeking shelter in fragility.
Kaja Leijon currently lives and works in Oslo. Recent exhibitions include the solo shows 'I Was Looking Back To See If You Were Looking Back At Me To See Me Looking Back At You' at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2019) , 'White Dust' at MELK Gallery, Oslo (2018), 'Dark Haven' at Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo (2017); 'Altro Mondo' at Space 4235, Genova (2016); and 'Another World' at MELK Gallery, Oslo (2015). Her work has been presented at Kunsthalle Mainz; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Galleria Muratcentoventidue Artecontemporanea, Bari; and Taiwan National Museum of Fine Arts. Leijon holds a degree from the National Academy of Fine Art, Oslo.