Created in 2023, the large-scale wood and textile sculpture Eternal Unrest Pram Coffin consists of two box-like forms mounted on a delicate frame with thin wooden legs. The elongated, adult-sized box forms the main body of the work and strongly resembles a coffin. Attached to this primary form is a smaller box shaped like the hood of a baby pram. Unlike an open stroller, however, this piece features a tunnel-like opening. Rather than emphasizing the middle phase of life, which is symbolized by the sculpture’s hidden interior, Jakobsdóttir focused on life’s beginning and end. The colorless linen body slumping from the pram-coffin symbolically represents a life cycle: we enter as infants, and we exit as corpses.

The notion that both the beginning and end of life are marked by the abject was famously articulated by theorist Julia Kristeva in her book Powers of Horror. Jakobsdóttir incorporates this idea into her sculpture. The limp body exiting the pram-coffin represents the abject—that which lies outside of social order. The title’s reference to a pram adds a direct feminist dimension, pointing to motherhood, gendered bodies, and social control. The work is not only about life’s transition but also critiques the role of the female body within patriarchal structures.

In her artistic practice, Jakobsdóttir draws attention to the social processes of abjection surrounding female bodily functions such as menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth. While these biological processes are essential for sustaining society, they are culturally devalued as part of so-called social reproductive labor, including childcare and housework—tasks traditionally assigned to women. The sculpture thus becomes a critical reflection on femininity and its contradictory place within systems of power and gender norms.

In psychological terms, the abject marks the moment when we separate from another body to form a sense of self. Jakobsdóttir uses this concept to bring the Real into consciousness, forcing us to confront our embodiment and the inevitability of mortality. This confrontation occurs at a pre-linguistic level, much like the visceral reaction to seeing a real corpse. It signifies the collapse of boundaries between subject and object—boundaries fundamental to individual identity formation.

The symbolic corpse in Eternal Unrest Pram Coffin represents the abject in purified aesthetic form. It speaks without words, offering a silent yet powerful reflection on human existence. In engaging with the sculpture, the viewer embarks on a dual journey: through the existential fear of the unknown and the cultural anxieties surrounding motherhood.

Within the context of the Between Two Places exhibition, Jakobsdóttir’s sculpture challenged the show’s very title. Life is portrayed here as a movement between two boundaries: a pre-semiotic state before life, and death. This existential framing anchors Jakobsdóttir’s work within the tradition of feminist theory and deepens her inquiry into the physical and symbolic conditions of being human.

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Your Haus Kunst Mitte Team