Ruby Nilsson (SE, b. 1993) is an artist and writer whose work explores how sexual difference is staged through aesthetics of enmity. Across several works, sexual liminality function as an interface to investigate social structures of antagonism, hatred and violence. As a recurring visual strategy, Nilsson employs the black box as both a site and a source of theatricality, emphasizing how sex is used to dramatically play out notions of identity, authenticity and deception.

Nilsson’s work spans performance, video installation, curation, and writing. Her projects unfold as extended series of intricate worldbuilding that together operate as closed systems of investigation, often expanding and evolving with each new installment.

Deeply influenced by her initial training in philosophy, her practice is marked by a strong engagement with text, voice, and orality, particularly the complex vocabularies and vernacular worlds that trans and queer people create as forms of survival and community-making. Her work is known to heighten the visceral, morbid, and witty styles and tonalities these worlds create as necessary tools of endurance.

RECANTATION, Nilsson’s first large scale solo exhibition, opened at Index: The Swedish Foundation for Contemporary Art in September, 2026. Other  projects recently presented include the host-assisted solo performance RESPAWN, shown at Inkonst (Malmö), and the ongoing performance project and curatorial initiative Center of Unseen Trans Survival (C.U.T.S.), presented at My Wild Flag (Stockholm) and Warehouse9 (Copenhagen). Her work has also been exhibited at institutions and venues including Göteborgs Konsthall (Göteborg), Norbergfestival (Norberg), Turteatern (Stockholm), Skånes Konstförening (Malmö), Konsthall C (Stockholm), Rewild (Copenhagen), and Fylkingen (Stockholm).

Nilsson holds an MFA from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Her writing has been published in journals including Bastard and Paletten Art Journal.