We might live in an age of “content creators,” but not all content created is equal. There are ever-growing formats and platforms with which to tell stories in an age when “I post, therefore I am” often seems to have trumped René Descartes’s dictum “cogito, ergo sum.” Two women keeping the French philosopher’s “I think, therefore I am” creed alive are photographer Frida Vega Salomonsson and art critic and curator Nora Arrhenius Hagdahl, the coeditors in chief and co-creative directors of Nuda, a Swedish culture and fashion magazine that takes many forms (exhibitions and brand consultancies, included), beyond the hardbound Nuda paper.
Based in a Stockholm neighborhood known colloquially as “Siberia” (so called because it’s a bit outside the central city), the co-founders work out of a basement space that is accessed via an anonymous storefront, down a flight of stairs, and through a heavy metal door. Past a white-walled and concrete-floored gallery space is the duo’s lair. It was once a porn-recording studio, Nora points out with a wicked bit of glee, and from the art on display to a bed nook with silver metallic linens and draperies from Magniberg, a beloved local homewear brand, the place exudes a flirtatious sex positive vibe.
The moniker “Nuda” seems to serve the same function. “We tried to come up with something that wouldn’t mean anything, but was flirting with something kind of feminine and nude and fleshy and nice” says Frida. “It’s young girls being into the provocative,” concludes Nora. By this she references the origins of Nuda, which grew out of high school friendships and shared interests.
Like a living organism, the project has morphed and evolved alongside its founders. The friends’ connection traces back to their teenage years. “I think Nora and I really found each other in high school; we were two people who were just, like, let’s just make something happen.” One of their earliest efforts was to organize a fashion and culture exhibition (where, by the way, Zak Arogundade, better known as Ecco2K, sold pieces from his first labeled fashion venture Alaska). Feminist seminars were also part of the repertoire. “When Nuda started,” says Nora, “the idea was that we really wanted to create a girl collective. It was also very much in that era of…2015. There was a girl boss moment going on in the world and we were really young and girl bosses.”