Charlotta Grunewald
Meet Charlotta Grunewald, a doctor and textile artist whose work moves between medical experience, global health and human stories. With a strong commitment to global health, the consequences of war and people’s living conditions, she gives visibility to people and experiences that might otherwise remain unseen.
“For me, art is a way of telling a story that I want to share. There is so much in the world to care about: poverty, war and the impact of climate change on people’s lives. I want to bring attention to those affected and give them a face.”
Charlotta Grunewald is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, senior consultant and textile artist with a strong commitment to global health. For many years, she worked internationally, including with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).
Charlotta Grunewald has worked in maternity care in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen. Her experiences in conflict-affected areas have left their mark on her artistic practice, where questions of women’s health, vulnerability and the right to safe healthcare are recurring themes.
Through her work, she highlights not only individual experiences, but also how collective behaviour, norms and social structures affect women’s health and living conditions.
In her artistic practice, Charlotta Grunewald often starts with photographs that have moved her. The works are stitched by hand using the same types of stitches and knots she used in her work as a surgeon. The dexterity remains in her hands. Hand-stitching becomes both a meditative process and a way of forming a strong connection with the person portrayed.
The Artworks
Charlotta Grunewald presents four artworks in the exhibition. The four works are based on real people and events in Afghanistan, Gaza and Ukraine, as well as on art history. Together, they portray the human consequences of war and conflict – grief, vulnerability, care and resilience.
Expat Team, Khost, Afghanistan is based on a private photograph from Charlotta Grunewald’s work at Médecins Sans Frontières’ maternity hospital in Khost in 2017, where around 100 babies were born every day and the work contributed to reducing the high maternal mortality rate. The image shows Charlotta herself together with her colleagues at the time.
Mothers is loosely inspired by Käthe Kollwitz’s iconic work Die Mütter from the series Krieg (War, 1919), which depicts mothers’ grief, trauma and protective instincts in the aftermath of the First World War – a subject that remains just as relevant today. Here too, Charlotta has stitched herself into the work.
Before My Eyes is based on a photograph by Omar Ashtawy/TT taken during a food distribution in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on 5 June 2025 and published in Dagens Nyheter. With the words “Their children are my children too”, the artist expresses her personal response to what she is witnessing.
The Surgeon in Ukraine is loosely based on a photograph by Daniel Constantini and a report by Anna-Lena Laurén published in Dagens Nyheter on 22 February 2026. The work depicts plastic surgeons carrying out long operations to reconstruct faces severely injured by war.
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