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Elisabeth Ohlson

Biography

Elisabeth Ohlson (born 1961) grew up in a Christian family in Sweden. Elisabeth was never really sure she actually believed in God, however, Elisabeth was always convinced that the God she may or may not believe in was a God of unconditional love.

Elisabeth was a self-taught photographer and LGBTQ rights activist. She worked for the first decades of her career as a press photographer. In the 1990s, Elisabeth’s anger over the discrimination of LGBTQ people in the church caused her to create her break-through exhibition Ecce Homo. With it she became one of the most important persons for LGBTQ-Christian rights in Sweden.

Ecce Homo consists of 12 pictures featuring Jesus in queer contexts – among drag queens, leather gay men, HIV-positive persons, and, surprisingly controversially, Jesus completely naked. In one picture Jesus wears heals. The exhibition premiered during Stockholm Pride in 1998 in a shelter basement that Elisabeth rented from the Stockholm Fire Brigade. Shortly thereafter, the exhibition was featured at a culture night in Uppsala Cathedral, causing bomb threats, demonstrations from Pentecostal Christians, and then-pope Johannes Paulus II to cancel his meeting with then-archbishop of Sweden, KG Hammar. 12,000 visitors came to see Ecce Homo in the Cathedral.

The archbishop’s firm support of the exhibition gave him the prize “Heterosexual of the Year” at the first ever Swedish gay gala in 1999. Elisabeth won “Homo of the Year” that same year. 

Following Ecce Homo, Elisabeth continued her career as a photographer, with several more thought-provoking exhibitions featuring LGBTQ-persons, as well as celebrities like politicians and royalties in provocative situations – like the queen of Sweden scrubbing away a swastika after it was made known her father was a member of the Nazi party.

The religious theme reoccurred as well.

In 2010, her exhibition Jerusalem premiered, once again triggering religious people – this time also Jews and Muslims. Its premiere was almost cancelled as the threats leading up to the exhibition gave the museum cold feet.

Jerusalem captures LGBTQ-persons at religious sites in Jerusalem. One of the pieces, portraying gay Muslims, became so controversial that after advice from the police it was retracted from the exhibition for the premiere – something Elisabeth later regretted and it was eventually put back in for future showings.

The making of Jerusalem was made on-site in Jerusalem which was a challenging and occasionally dangerous task. One piece features two men, completely naked, on top of one another, kissing, by the Jaffa Gate. Elisabeth has shared that her idea was that the two men were going to keep the jeans they were wearing on, for security reasons, but the models convinced her of doing it naked. Two persons had to keep guard on each side of the street and shout if someone was coming, and then the models had to quickly get dressed and pretend like nothing was going on. All the models in Jerusalem are LGBTQ-persons from the city.

In 2012 Elisabeth created the altarpiece Paradise, picturing two Adams and two Eves, as well as transpersons. Elisabeth gifted the piece to the Church of Sweden Skara diocese, who returned it to Elisabeth as the piece was “too political.” A pastor in Malmö wanted to take the piece to their church instead, but the leadership of the congregation said no. A few years later, the piece was bought by a civilian and gifted to the Church of Sweden congregation S:t Pauli in Malmö. The piece was put up in the church, but following a huge debate the church was first forced to move the piece out of the church interior and then eventually to completely take it down. A criticism was that the snake in the paradise is a transwoman and thus that the piece could be interpreted as transphobic. Large parts of the queer- and trans community, however, defended the piece against that interpretation. Elisabeth commented that Sweden is not ready to have a LGBTQ-themed altarpiece in the sacred room.

At the time of Elisabeth’s death in 2024 the altarpiece was still not allowed in church, but instead placed in the residence of the Swedish prime minister (whose wife is a pastor in the Church of Sweden).

In later years Elisabeth also put up shows as a theatre director, her first being one about Kristina, queen of Sweden, as a transperson called Kung Kristina Alexander (King Kristina Alexander).

During the summer of 2023, Elisabeth shared that she had been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. She passed away at age 63 on 30th of October 2024, surrounded by her partner, her ex-wife, and their two children.

Elisabeth is remembered in Sweden as a fierce activist, even though she initially was very troubled by the way she was seen as a provocative creator since her personality never really lived up to that media image. By the people closest to her she is remembered as a kind, enthusiastic friend who never failed to be encouraging and supportive.

In the last years of her life Elisabeth worked on an exhibition capturing people’s moments of death and she publicly spoke of how she wanted her own death to be the final piece of that exhibition. At her death-bed, she wanted a camera to be placed facing her, with a remote shutter so that she could take a self-portrait at the final moments of her life. According to her closest family and friends, her wish of having her transition from life to death captured on camera was fulfilled. The time and place of her final, posthumous, exhibition is TBA,

(This biographical statement was written by Lina Lanström.)

Ecce Homo

Jerusalem 

Biography Date: November 2024

Additional Resources

https://www.rfi.fr/en/wires/20191211-gay-altarpiece-original-sin-makes-waves-sweden?fbclid=IwAR38EkGwgYWvIlMMVm20xGP71Ql5p8aQj348JOKmgyU6G7UKXylglwXjHvA

https://thenewamerican.com/us/culture/faith-and-morals/altered-altarpiece-church-replaces-adam-and-eve-with-adam-and-steve/

https://www.advocate.com/world/2019/12/02/church-sweden-displays-queer-affirming-paradise-artwork

https://www.them.us/story/queer-couples-adam-and-eve-sweden-altarpiece

Tags

Church of Sweden | Artist/musician/poet | Sweden

Citation

“Elisabeth Ohlson | Profile”, LGBTQ Religious Archives Network, accessed February 10, 2025, https://lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/profiles/elisabeth-ohlson.

Remembrances

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