Maria Friberg

Friberg was born in Malmö, Sweden, to Monika Friberg and Roland Hylen. She has a sister, Lina Friberg. She was raised mainly by her mother, a hairdresser and potter, with help from her grandparents, in the south of Sweden.

Friberg studied art history at University of Gothenburg in 1986. She then attended Bild & Form, Lunnevad, Sweden in 1987, Nordic Art School, Kokkola, Finland in 1988, Royal University College of Fine Arts, Stockholm from 1989 to 1995; with a break in 1992 to Icelandic College of Art and Crafts (Icelandic: Myndlista og Handidaskoli) (now part of Iceland University of the Arts) in Reykjavik.^[4]

Friberg's earliest work was featured in a group exhibition titled Invasion in Millesgården, Stockholm in 1993^{[citation needed]}. For the next several years, Friberg continued to participate in group exhibitions and a few solo exhibitions, mainly in Stockholm. Her first solo exhibition was in 1994, and she received her first public commission in 1996.^{[citation needed]}

The art film Driven (1998) was co-created by Friberg with Monika Larsen Dennis, and features two bodies in a dance of both attraction and repulsion.^[5][6]

After more than a dozen solo exhibitions in the 2000s, Friberg's work has more recently incorporated painting, photography,^[7] and videography.^[8] Her work has been sold in many countries and exhibited in the U.K., France, and the U.S.^[9][10][11] She has participated in hundreds of group exhibitions, and continues to hold solo exhibitions, including six in 2014^{[citation needed]}. Friberg has also done three performances, in 1996, 1997, and 2001, and a number of public commissions.^{[citation needed]}

Friberg's work has also illustrated books and other publications.^[12]

Friberg names John Erik Franzen and Ann Edholm as her primary influences.^{[citation needed]}