Vinter

by Lars Tunbjörk (Photographer), Anna Tellgren (Contributor)

"I often feel beside myself in the wintertime, and I try to go to warmer and lighter places. But the last couple of years I have traveled into the winter and darkness instead - into areas, conditions and encounters in which I don't really know where the outer and inner begin. And even less where they end." Lars Tunbjörk's photographic explorations of northern Sweden capture the atmosphere of the gloaming winter months in Scandinavia, and the lives of the people who live under those dark skies.

Vinter began as a means of surviving the dark part of the year; it has a correspondingly different mood, color range and temperament from Tunbjörk's previous work, but shares its style, understated humor and often absurd subject matter.

Genres: Photography

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2007

Reviews

[Davy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tunbjörk loves his flash. And snow, especially dirty snow. And, above all, he loves capturing human vulnerability on film with unforgiving immediacy. Many of these images provoke a vocalized "eww," not necessarily because they depict something conventionally "gross" - though some do - but because most of them are deeply uncomfortable in a very human sort of way, and even looking at them makes one want to escape. The close-ups of nicotine-stained fingers and veiny noses and legs, the sneaky outside-looking-in pictures of people in their homes who aren't aware of the camera -- that stuff I can take or leave, honestly. But Tunbjörk also has a keen eye for architecture and landscape, and a mischievous sense of humor. I most prefer his frank and idiosyncratic interior images -- of shopping malls, bedrooms, lounges. Most of them are unpopulated, all of them visually striking, loaded with meaning and suggestion. Tunbjörk can get vivid color out of just about anything, it seems. These are powerful photographs, created by a unique vision, and while not all of them are pleasant, they are all worth looking at.

[Magnus Norén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Som "home" fast med människor och miljöer i sämre skick. Lite distansierat och ironiskt ibland. Jag trodde först att naken-Janne i sin lägenhet var Lars själv. Synd. Han hade behövt visa sin egen för att kompensera lite.