Present-day people being included in the church’s imagery

“Many people see the church as doing important things for other people but do not feel that the church pertains to them personally,” says Bishop Marika Markovits. “We want to show that the church is for everyone and is able to accommodate a wide variety of existential issues and experiences.”

Throughout the ages, church paintings have told stories about people’s faith, joy and vulnerability. As part of the campaign, the artist Johan Frid has been commissioned to create three oil paintings in the classical ecclesiastical tradition, with the focus on present-day people.

“Ecclesiastical art has always told stories about people’s lives,” says Johan Frid. “In these paintings, I had the opportunity to use the classical idiom to tell the story of those of us living in the here and now.”

It was important that the new motifs were created with the same artistic care and craftsmanship that characterise the ecclesiastical art tradition. The paintings are therefore hand-painted in oils and not AI-generated.

In the campaign videos, the paintings have been digitally inserted in video footage from Gustaf Vasa Church in Stockholm, where they appear as a natural part of the church interior.

Facts: The three paintings

The three paintings were created by the artist Johan Frid and are based on pastoral welfare activities in which the Church of Sweden encounters people in daily life. The motifs depict counselling, visits to the elderly and communal meals. The paintings were hand-painted in oils.

The artworks link back to the ecclesiastical tradition of storytelling through art and focus on present-day people and existential issues