Lindberg, Joel: Oknos

This piece explores the quiet, persistent currents of mental illness, focusing on an anxiety that is constantly pushed aside but never truly confronted. The narrative circles around the tension between suppression and resurfacing, the way unaddressed worry seeps back in, no matter how firmly it is buried. Through these contrasts, the piece reflects the cyclical nature of avoidance and return, inner struggle and fragile balance. The title Oknos refers to the mythological figure condemned to weave a rope that is endlessly eaten away behind him. Winner of the Jan Sandström Competition 2026 – an evocative work about recurring anxiety and the fragile balance between control and dissolution.