Stina Wirsén Hedengren (born 1968) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

author and illustrator.

Early life and education

Stina Wirsén was born in 1968 in

Älvsjö Älvsjö () is a district of the city of Stockholm Municipality in Sweden, located in the borough Älvsjö in Söderort. It has the biggest rentable facility in northern Europe called Stockholm International Fairs, and also the hotel Scandic ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

to Carin and Christian Wirsén. She started making art in early childhood. She attended at

Konstfack Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, is a university college for higher education in the area of art, crafts and design in Stockholm, Sweden. History Konstfack has had several different names since it was founded in 1844 by the eth ...

in Stockholm from 1985 to 1992.

Career

Wirsén was the in-house illustrator at ''

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

'' between 1990 and 2010. She was the head of the paper’s illustration department for several years. After 2010 she began working as a freelance illustrator and author. She has received several awards for her illustrations. Wirsén's illustrations often switch between different genres. That also applies to her children's books. She writes children's ABC-books, as well as anthologies, text, and picture books. She is a member of the Swedish Children's Book Academy. The book ''Little Pink and the Motley Crew'' () (2014) was controversial for Wirsén's illustrated depictions of the Black girl character named Lilla Hjärtat (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: ''Little Heart''), who has resemblance to an American derogatory caricature of a "

pickaninny Pickaninny (also picaninny, piccaninny or pickininnie) is a racial slur for African-American children and a pejorative term for Aboriginal children of the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand. The origins of the term are disputed. Along with s ...

" or "

golliwog The golliwog, also spelled golliwogg or shortened to golly, is a doll-like character, created by cartoonist and author Florence Kate Upton, which appeared in children's books in the late 19th century, usually depicted as a type of rag doll. I ...

" and who was supposed to have acted "uncontrollable". The backlash of claims of racism started on social media, and was later picked up by the Swedish news. Wirsén announced in the news in November 2012, she would discontinue the Lilla Hjärtat character.

Private life

Wirsén is married to Swedish graphic designer and art director Pompe Hedengren. They have three children.

Selected assignments

* Since 2000 Stina Wirsén has delivered lectures and workshops internationally. Her focus is on children between the ages of 2–6 years. She has been working with children and pictures/images in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

, Tokyo,

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Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

and Stockholm. *

Åhléns City Åhléns City is a department store in the Norrmalm district in central Stockholm, Sweden. The building is located at Klarabergsgatan 50 and takes up the entirety of the Gripen city block, block. Åhléns City is the largest singular store of the � ...

– A 25-meter wide, hand drawn, fashion illustration for the beauty section at the department store in central Stockholm. The illustration was drawn straight on to the Swedish handmade tiles at the tile factory in Askersund. * Stamps for the Swedish Post Office – A series of 8 stamps picturing creations by different Swedish fashion designers. * UN Human Rights – A series of graphic illustrations of UN's Human Rights applied on 14 miljon copies of the Swedish telephone directory. The series was exhibited at the UN headquarters in New York during the 50-year anniversary of the Human Rights declaration. *

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

, Sweden – both non-profit and commissioned work, e.g. illustrations to articles in their quarterly magazine BARN (CHILDREN). * Google "doodle" illustration on the theme diversity published/applied on Google first page worldwide on the Swedish National Day 2015.

Selected exhibitions

* Sven-Harrys konstmuseum 2014 – Around the turn of this millennium there was an explosive progress on the Swedish fashion scene. The exhibition "Svenskt Mode: 2000 – 2015” at Sven-Harrys Konstmuseum in Stockholm depicts the fast, esthetic and conceptual change during this eventful period of time with a big collection of key garments from Swedish fashion designers and fashion illustrations by Stina Wirsén and Liselotte Watkins. *

Bror Hjorts Hus Bror Hjorths Hus is a museum located in Uppsala, Sweden. The museum is housed in the former studio of sculptor and painter Bror Hjorth (1894–1968). Hjorth's villa was designed by architect Sten Hummel-Gumaelius (1906-1986). The building wa ...

2013 – Solo exhibition with the main focus on illustrations from children's books, but also several fashion- and portrait illustration. * Svenska Ambassaden i Tokyo 2012 – A big Swedish design exhibition during Tokyo Design Week. A collaboration between the Swedish Institute, Svensk Form and the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo. *

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum is the List of national galleries, national gallery of fine arts of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretch far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, including the Natio ...

2010 – The exhibition "Handgjort" (hand made). An exhibition with focus on the hand drawn line. A dialog between Stina Wirsén's illustrations and illustrations from the Swedish National Galley's own collection, for instance work by Rafaell, Angelica Kauffmann, John Bauer, Antoine Watteau and Matthias Grünewald. *

Konstnärshuset Konstnärshuset (literally Artists' House) is a building in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is owned by the Swedish Artists Association (''Svenska konstnärernas förening'') and is used as an art gallery. History Designed by Ludvig Petersen, the bu ...

2009 – Solo exhibition of reportage illustrations from Stockholm's bar- and restaurant life. *

Dunkers Kulturhus A Dunker is a breed of dog, also known as the Norwegian Hound. Dunker or Dunkers may also refer to: People * Balthasar Anton Dunker (1746–1807), German landscape painter and etcher * Bernhard Dunker (1809–1870), Norwegian jurist, barrister ...

2015 – Picture book and fashion sketches in connection with Swedish fashion designer Bea Szenfeld's solo exhibition.

Selected books

* Jag har fått en klocka! 1991 * Sakboken 1995 * Djurboken 1995 * Liten och stor 1995 * Tussas Kalas 1996 (author Martin Vårdstedt and Anna Hörling) * Siffror och Nuffror 1997 (author Anna Hörling) * Hedvig! (author Frida Nilsson) * Hedvig och sommaren med steken (author Frida Nilsson) * Hedvig och Hardemos prinsessa (author Frida Nilsson) * Hallå därinne! 2010 (author

Ulf Stark Ulf Gottfrid Stark (12 July 1944 – 13 June 2017) was a Swedish author and screenwriter (he adapted several of his own books for film and wrote the screenplay for the 1999 film '' Tsatsiki, morsan och polisen''). Stark has collaborated with th ...

) * En stjärna vid namn Ajax (author

) * Systern från havet (author

) * Full cirkus på Sockerbullen 2012 (together with Carin Wirsén) * Jag 2012 * Liten – a book about children's vulnerability and the responsibility of the grownups. Commissioned by the Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (

Brottsoffermyndigheten The Swedish Crime Victim Authority () is a Swedish government agency which provides compensation and support for victims of crime. It is located in Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå ...

) 2015

Children's book series – Rut och Knut

(author Carin Wirsén) * Rut och Knut lagar mat * Rut och Knut ställer ut * Rut och Knut gräver ut * Rut och Knut klär ut sig * Rut och Knut börjar träna * Rut och Knut och lilla Tjut * ABC med Rut och Knut * Lilla ABC med Rut och Knut * Supershow med Rut och Knut

Children's book series – Vem?

* Vems byxor? 2005 * Vem är arg? 2005 * Vem bestämmer? 2006 * Vem blöder? 2006 * Vems mormor? 2007 * Vem är ensam? 2007 * Vem är söt? 2008 * Vem är borta? 2008 * Vem är bäst? 2009 * Vem sover inte? 2009 * Vem är död? 2010 * Vems kompis? 2010 * Vems bebis? 2011 * Vem städar inte? 2011 * Vem kommer nu? 2012 * Vem är sjuk? 2012 * Vem är var? 2012 * Vems hus? 2015 * Vem är stor? 2016 * Vems syskon? 2016 The "Vem?" books were made into an animated series in 2010 and are regularly broadcast on

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

Children's book series – Brokiga

* En liten skär och många små brokiga (author Carin Wirsén) * Dela! 2013 * Titta! 2014 * Bygga! 2014 * Nej! 2015 * Rita! 2015 * ()

Selected awards

* ''The Society of Newspaper Design 1997'' * ''The Society of Scandinavian Illustrators 2001'' * Stockholms Stads Kulturpris * Nordiska Tecknares Pris – Guld, Silver * Award of Excellence by Society of Newspaper Design * Elsa Beskow-plaketten 2000 for "Rut och Knut ställer ut” *

Expressens Heffaklump Expressens Heffaklump (Heffaklumpen) is a Swedish annual award for children's and youth culture, especially children's and youth literature, that is awarded by the newspaper Expressen. The award was established in 1966 and the original award statue ...

2007 for "Supershow med Rut och Knut” * Kolla! Svenska Tecknares Pris

References

External links

Stina Wirsén website

''Brokiga'' website

Japanese ''Brokiga'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wirsen, Stina 1968 births Living people Swedish women children's book illustrators Swedish children's book illustrators Swedish women writers Artists from Stockholm Writers from Stockholm