This sculpture is a queer take on a traditional ritual performed in Sweden on the night of Midsommar, a celebration of the summer solstice. As a child growing up in Sweden, artist Emma Wood remembers picking seven flowers and placing them under their pillow in hopes that the magic of Midsommar would bring dreams of their future spouse. They recast this ritual to instead hold both memories and hope for their future. The artist picked the seven plants inside the glass pillow in places Wood has called home. Each hold memories and stories of queer and trans joy and acceptance.  

Wood captures these memories by preserving the flowers in glass using a technique called fossil vitra, in which plants are coated in powdered glass and fired in a kiln onto a glass surface. This technique burns away the original plant, leaving behind ash and an imprint of the glass powder. 

-Linnea Seidling, Assistant Curator of Glass