Fotografiska

There comes a point where science becomes poetry. When a strictly objective gaze creates an image that allows us to imagine a beauty greater than which we can express. That’s where photography turns more life-like. 

I am not  a professional photographer, but of what I learn and believe in photography and by following great artists of the time, I understand photography as one of the strongest art forms existing today. Right from the time of Ansel Adams to all the current gen Instagram-worthy photographers trying to make their space in the ever so saturating field, one thing goes without saying – it is very important to find your subject that you’d love to shoot rather than just focusing on being a good photographer. But it is equally important to find your creative. And nothing in the world can possibly mirror creativity better than the pieces of work in this art-fled studio.

Facing the islands of Kastellholmen and Djurgarden, this museum, Fotografiska – mainly known as the photography museum of Stockholm is built-in a former customs house. It is a massive three storey photo gallery where one can find worlds top photographers works exhibited on rotation.

One such opportunity came my way when I was traveling in Stockholm during the last week of December. Honestly Fotografiska wasn’t on my list before I looked up the website and read about the photographers who were exhibited there at the time. In no time the camera enthusiast in me decided to find a way to reach Djurgarden. I stayed very close to the central station and it took me a direct metro rail to Slussen and a quick 12 minute walk hence to reach this beautiful building. I had the Stockholm pass which helped me skip lines and saved up on my entry fee. That’s the one thing I absolutely love about the Stockholm pass – it includes almost everything one would want to see in Stockholm, and it sure is cost-effective.

If I have to describe my experience at Fotografiska in one word, I’d say – Fascinating. Right from the moment I walked into the gallery and laid eyes on hassleblad camera bodies and lenses, I knew I was in for a treat throughout. It took me about 3 hours to read through each photograph, the colors, the angles, the details. The artists that month on exhibit were Nick Veasey, Chen Man, Asa Sjöström and Ida Borg. Each of them echoing their meraki through their own unique cutting edge photography, took me through an extraordinary journey in the making of state of the art masterpieces. Staring up at these daedal photographs, I was in awe of the complexities of art and the simplicities of human life and materialism.

Here I will be taking you back to Stockholm’s December journey. Tip-toe with me through Fotografiska and go speechless at the possibilities of art and creativity.

Nick Veasey

“I can preserve a child’s smile, make any woman feel beautiful, bring a grown man to tears, fifty years from now and freeze time – What’s your superpower?”

Most artists claim to delve beneath the surface of their subjects. Most artists fail. And of what I experienced of Nick’s photography technique is that no one can go to such intricate depth of ones core. This man has the imagination, power and creativity to dig deep into the possibilities of daily objects. And what’s crazy is – he seems UNSTOPPABLE. In an unmatchable spirit, Nick Veasey works in his X-ray studio in a rural area outside Maidstone, England. He does not focus on capturing beautiful landscape over shining horizons, nor does he focus on painting portraits. Instead, he has mastered the art of penetrating deep inside any object – living and non-living. The X-ray technique. Look, observe, learn the magic created by Nick Veasle’s X-ray photographic technique. Read as deeply as you want. unravel a photo layer by layer, till there’s nothing left to it – and yet everything.

I have never seen detailing so closely my entire life. Neither would you.

Chen Man

Redefining the fine line between Fashion photography, Art, Painting and Graphic design, Chen Man masters the art of photo-manipulation technique. She was the first one to learn, use and master Photoshop in China. She would spend months on her computer creating and recreating one image.

Flying with fearlessness and sitting at the edge of the curiosity-cliff, Chen Man shocked the chinese art world bringing in a whole new revolution to the visual world single-handedly.

Ida Borg

Taking on life simple pleasures and building art off them, is a skill many possess. But the sheer perfection and elegance is what defines Ida Borg’s work of art. In – Hygiene – A circle of life, Ida captures the daily emotions of the life cycle of a lay man. In the mindset of educating people about the importance of Hygiene, Ida says, ” No matter where you find yourself in the cycle of life, hygiene is what stays with you, and your health should be of primary concern”.

In her series, Ida has captured people of different ages and nationalities, from across the world to bring together the basic necessity of one thing that unites us all – Hygiene. Photography is an all-inclusive art form which is why it has the power to reach the mind, body and soul of anyone hence provoking newer perspectives.

Asa Sjöström

“I see myself in those I photograph and I often wonder what it would be like if their lives had been mine. The connection feels personal, as if we share a story, but one that is not my own”.

Asa captures the story of a silent land. A land she walked into and fled herself with overwhelming emotions. Moldova, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, is the poorest country in Europe (2005). On her 3 month long trip, she captured faces of prisoners, victims of human trafficing and domestic violence. Feeling incomplete even after capturing the souls of what made Moldova, she realised that she hadnt looked close enough. That was the moment when she put herself in the place of the locals, observed the details and encountered in the people of Moldova, strong integrity, will power and a fierce sincerity. She saw people, the poverty and the dignity; the brutal yet fragile life experiences of the people.

Its a fearlfully dangeorous stunt to put yourself in place of such severity just to capture the heart and soul in a photograph. Asa’s ‘The silent land’ series are a line of brutally honest inhuman realities of this wildly materialistic world we live in.

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Fotografiska introduced me to art like I have never seen before. The multitude of possibilities one can learn just by using a lens, the levels of photojournalism and the numerous ways of visual storytelling is what I take away from this beautiful art museum in Stockholm. If you are a photography enthusiast, take my word for it – YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS PLACE! Go, unlearn everything you have been taught about photography and look at art in a whole new perspective.

FOTOGRAFISKA MUSEET

Stadsgårdshamnen 22
116 45 Stockholm

OPENING HOURS

Sun – Weds 9:00 am – 11: 00 pm
Thurs – Sat 9:00 am – 1:00 am

TICKET PRICES

Adults SEK 135
Students and Seniors SEK 105
Groups (minimum 20 visitors) SEK 105
Children under 12 years free
NB This museum does not accept cash; cards only

Have you been to Fotografiska yet? What did you like best?

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