New Nordic Photography

July 19, 2011

Welcome, Passerby © Kerstin Hamilton

A Melody for Grandpa © Erika Hedman
The New Nordic Photography exhibition at Göteborg’s Hassleblad Museum features nine newly graduated Bachelors and Masters students who are competing for Victor Fellowships, named after the Hassleblad Foundation’s founder, to London and New York.

Erika Hedman’s “A Melody for Grandpa” is a series which follows a young girl’s visit to her grandparents’ house. For all we know, the subject matter could be Little Red Riding Hood, with her crimson dress and flowing locks. Both items are emphasized in different photographs. The girl holds a harmonica and your eyes immediately focus on her hands, against the backdrop of the dress. In another, her waist-length hair catches your attention as she stands on a rock in the forest, holding onto a branch and blocking her face with her arms.

In a portrait, the girl stares intently at something away from the camera — her dark hair covering the left side of her face while her other grey eye glimmers with light. The viewer also feels like an intruder, looking in from the other side of the doorway, as she and her grandmother are sitting on the bed, locked in an embrace. In the field, she leans in to listen to grandpa whispering in her ear, and the smile on her face is priceless. They also go for a walk in the woods, holding hands and wearing matching rubber boots.

To capture “Welcome, Passerby,” Kerstin Hamilton spent six weeks in Lesjöfors, Sweden, a small which isn’t known for much. In her statement, she notes, “I left to return to the city, convinced that this is how people ought to live,. This is the life.”

Hamilton, a native of Värmland, works with portraits, landscapes and even includes audio from the local choir sessions. She attended the meetings to connect to her neighbors and become a member of the community. Some of her portraits include relevant text–a female factory work with a statement about traditional social democratic ideals; there is a young girl in a black dress above the words “In the Swedish National Encyclopedia, ‘industrial community’ is described as a patriarchal society.” Her landscapes include a quiet street scene and a house with an overflowing greenhouse. Despite the grey skies, both images are flooded with various shades of green and yellow, from the surrounding trees and grass.

Casia Bomberg includes self-portraits in “Bonding/Come Closer.” In the two photographs from the “Bonding” series, there is an extra set of hands holding the photographer. She holds own her face as the stranger’s hands caress her hair; she is contemplating something and is deep in thought. “Come Closer” shows the photographer hugging, holding, straddling and even getting a piggy-back ride in contemporary settings. The various locations include a playground, a shopping plaza, a park, and a sidewalk littered with broken beer bottles.

The complete list of the 2011 Victor Fellowships includes:
The Bachelor-group: Casia Bromberg, Joachim Fleinert, Mandi Gavois, Erika Hedman
The Master-group: Sven Drobnitza, Kerstin Hamilton, Linda Hofvander, David Molander, Johannes Samuelsson

The exhibition runs from May 28 until August 21 at the Hasselblad Foundation’s Exhibition Hall, which is located in the Göteborg Museum of Art.

http://www.hasselbladfoundation.org/new-nordic-photography-2011/

By Kamni Kieran

Published by: The Swede Beat