Artist

For this ‘Postcards from PE’ feature, we escape to Gothenburg and the Swedish archipelago, where artist Petra Börner used to spend her childhood summers. Here, she walks us through the salty, sunny, weathered nature and surroundings that influence her latest collection 'Pastel', and the things that make time stop ‘in this peaceful and beautifully unpretentious part of the world'.

Best eating and drinking is at home, on the island it’s far to get to anywhere else, and anything tastes fantastic after swimming and walking, the fresh sea air makes you hungry. 

Homemade blackcurrant juice, picking berries is a must, blueberries in the forests in late summer, cherries too as they were late to ripen, especially giroles, much of it available along the paths for anyone to pick (if they're lucky to spot them).

Rhubarb crumble, fried or grilled fish, new potatoes, cabbage, herbs, home-baked breads, and buns. Keeping it simple.

Fishing and the archipelagic life, marked by the salty air, the rays of sun paling the colours of sculptures and cranes, the weather paints all things in new shades. 

There are many monuments and tributes to the shipping industry and its effects, shipyard, cranes, voyages from the past and its history is ever present throughout Gothenburg city.

I love this salty, sunny, weathered natural vista, rocks shaped by the waves, faded facades, and windswept surfaces with pale faces. It’s also a dire place, the sea can be quite unforgiving but also inviting, leaving salty crystals on swimmers drying in the sun on the jetty. Time stops in this peaceful and beautifully unpretentious part of the world.

People are mad about licorice in Sweden, licorice chocolate, and licorice ice cream, salty and sweet, it’s hard to be without it.

Listen to Monica Zetterlund, Alice Babs or Evert Taube; watch Bergman or Lukas Moodysson, read ’The Serious Game’ by Hjalmar Söderberg (I designed the cover pictured above), or ‘A drop of midnight’ by Jason Timbuktu Diakité.

I like Sigrid Hjertens's paintings and the work by Carl Johan de Geer, I grew up with his patterns...

Sweden is in my roots and even if I have now lived longer in the UK, it’s in me. This nature is a force that I always carry with me and it spills out in my work.