On a circular ceiling screen, religious and symbolic tableaux unfold in shifting sequences. Drawing on imagery from the fall of man, the work confronts envy as both a corrosive human emotion and one of the seven deadly sins. Its vivid, decaying imagery immerses the viewer in the suffocating intensity of envy, exposing its power to unsettle, rot and haunt relations between people.

Katja Bjørn’s The Pleasure of Envy and Envy My Beloved are part of The Seven Deadly Sins, a series of exhibitions created in collaboration with Aarhus 2017 – European Capital of Culture. Both works explore envy as a force, which through its nagging indefinability, inward pain and intense gestures, shapes and strains our relationships with others, including friends and family.