Nanna Obel

Nanna Obel’s 2019 brooch offers a layered composition constructed from silver, gold, enamel, and pearls. The work is built as a diptych, each side evoking the shutter of a camera or lens of a surveillance device, opening to reveal fragmented images of intimate human moments. Tactile elements such as cast hands and pearls suspended below the frame suggest gesture and emotion, while photographic panels and structural overlays imply distance and observation. The use of both Tahitian and freshwater pearls adds tonal complexity and elegance to the otherwise fractured narrative.

Formally, the piece plays with contrast—soft luster against mechanical geometry, affection against voyeurism. The brooch suggests dualities of tenderness and control. Obel’s use of photographic imagery and text embedded into the metal reads like a frozen caption, inviting the viewer to interpret a scene both specific and elusive. The brooch becomes not only a wearable image but a critique of how intimacy is watched, recorded, and perhaps misunderstood.