VAAF – Jonna Bo Lammers
Artist in Residence
Based in: Sweden
Participated in: Stockholm Local Urban Lab
Jonna Bo Lammers (1996) is an illustrator and muralist from the Netherlands, currently based in Stockholm. Her work is bold, colorful, and large-scale, often addressing pressing social issues, particularly feminist topics. Through color and ornamentation, she aims to draw viewers in and create a space where difficult subjects become more approachable and open for discussion.
She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Illustration at Minerva Art Academy in Groningen, the Netherlands. After graduating, she co-founded the mural duo VAAF together with artist Lotte Masker, creating large-scale murals across Europe for six years.
Then she decided to return to academia. She graduated from a Master’s in Visual Communication at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Now she continues to work as VAAF, but also teaches about the intersection of murals and politics, and conducts research on how sexual assault is visually represented in mainstream media, examining how visual language shapes narratives of power, gender, and accountability.
I'm melting (2025), acrylic paint on wall
In these murals, Jonna Bo Lammers from VAAF explores our relationship with water in the context of climate change. The works at Stadsgårdsterminalen are inspired by conversations with climate justice representatives in Stockholm, reflecting both collective hope and the feeling of being a small part of a vast capitalist system.
“We like to visualise difficult subjects in an ornamental way, it’s a way of drawing people in. Here, we used water as an ornament: its flow, ripples, and drops. It’s melting, overflowing, crying. When working with murals, you always start from the wall itself, the space matters. With walls of different sizes, we wanted to create a collage of stories: our personified earth melting, the feeling of being just one drop in a vast sea, the glass that’s already full and overflowing. But ripples grow larger. I hope these images together convey a broader story about water and climate change.
During this residency, I moved onto a boat on Lake Mälaren, which was also the focus of the residency. Right when I started painting, my water filtration system broke. It felt like a cosmic joke, I had to think about water for three weeks while not having any at home. It definitely made the painting period harder, but it also made me realise even more clearly the real-life consequences of what we’re fighting against.”
