11 fotografer Vernissage

ORIGINAL BLOG ENTRY ON OLD WEBSITE DATED 29 MAY 2023

So its taken me till Monday to put together a blog about the opening of an exhibition that I am a part of - 11 fotografer - in Hudiksvall. The weeks leading up to the opening of an exhibition are always full packed and exciting; this is actually one of my favourite parts about photography!

Friday was spent hanging the exhibition which can take a long time just to decide on where everyones works will go so that the exhibition has a nice flow to it. My spacce was easy to hang as my main work is the book I have produced especially for this exhibition;

I had time over to help the other photographers hang their exhibition works - I love working with others and showing those that hadn't exhibited before how to measure etc. I even got to hold a drill and drill some screws; it maybe sounds silly but since using a wheelchair and not being to help with reaching high etc it felt good to be of use :-)

Saturday was vernissage at 12 o'clock. Some sweets and fizzy apple drink welcomed our guests. There wasn't masses of people there which was quite nice as it meant we had time to speak to everyone about our works. Also people kept coming throughout the open time instead of all coming at the begining and then it being empty by the end.

The feedback I got on both my picture on the wall and my book was very positive which is always welcome. My exhibition is titled: "ta livet och dansa med det" or "take life and dance with it" It is a reflective, documentry work that is very open in both text and pictures (don't want to give too much away just yet) so when people stopped to read while I was there left me with a very vulnerable feeling (which surprised me); its almost like a stranger reading your diary out loud in front of you. Even with this feeling of vulnerability I am still very glad that I produced it and put it out there for all to see!

The other exhibitors range from Hans (Hasse) Wallberg who has concluded a three year project of photographing people in their work place. He has produced a fantastic book documenting people at work today and even has the foreward written by former Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven.

Stefan Hessman uses his high contrast black and white pictures to document Gävle docks. It really works and the high contrast on gloss paper behind glass gives his pictures a new dimension that I've not seen throughout this year of working together.

Karin Kämsby, a journilist by trade, has taken on the mamouth task of documenting and investigating the Swedish obsession of collecting scrap cars and just leaving them to deteriate in and around old farms here. Its a big ask and I wasn't sure how it would be translated to pictures hung on the wall but it works well; lots of pictures but I think without so much content it wouldn't of worked the same.

Helen von Holton has taken her bird nature photography and used it in a contempary manner while Richard Skoglund has used a full format camera to capture images of houses along a stretch of a road that most travvel but rarely stop.

I have had the pleasure of working alongside both Luc Andries and Björn Nilsson for two acedemic years now and now Luc has produced a beautiful book about swedish "folktro" - difficult to translate but I think "folklore/sagas" fits ok. Through photography he brings to life the otherwise unseen. With a poet writing poems to the pictures it is a rare and special book that I think everyone should own.

Björn Nilsson has been working on portraits of people in his hometown of Fargsta in Stockholm. This area of Stockholm has a bad reputation but by his portraits he puts faces to stories.

Maria Sandgren is a psycologist by trade and has started to explore, subjectively, what happens when we cry? Using minimist photography it has produced a thought provoking series of pictures.

And last but not least is Pia Fridell, as local artist and photographer she has used her photography to explore "gemensamt" or collectivness in society.

If you've been counting you might of noticed that there is 10 photographer not 11 (!); sadly one of our exhibitors had to drop out at the last minute but her photo is still on our poster!

Here are some impressions from the vernissage - if you want a clearer view you'll have to come by or wait until the exhibition closes then I will publish pictures of everyones works (with permission of course)