At twelve, I got my first camera, an Instamatic with the ability to show me what I thought I saw but didn’t really see. Capturing what was in front of me, but gracing it with a new and different expression. Mostly, I was around horses, I looked at their beautiful eyes, their silken fur, their perfect heads, raised the Instamatic, pressed the button, and waited.
I remember the feeling of absolute joy when we picked up the 10 x 15 cm prints from the photo lab, the sense of magic. Photographs of horses’ eyes, whiskers, and flowing manes telling me more than my own eyes had told me in real life. This was what I wanted to do, to be. Not necessarily a photographer, but a magician, someone who could draw from what reality offered and shape that into a treasure.
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So I got a BFA in photography at the University of Gothenburg. Experimented with motifs and cameras, loved the Hasselblad, the Speed Graphic, but most of all, my old Zeiss Ikonta with its expressive lack of sharpness, the soft edges it gave.
I spent days and nights in the darkroom and saw images come to life in trays full of miraculous potions. I took part in some exhibitions, sold some art, but then life went on and I lost a little of that magic touch.
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But if I lost a fleeting feeling, I found something much more valuable to me: the Icelandic horse. No other horse I had met showed the same blend of curiosity, strength, and quiet pride as these small yet powerful creatures. I love their presence, the quiet moments of watching them, and the occasional ride in the forest. They have changed my life.
I decided to pick up where I had left off: taking photos of horses, particularly Icelandic horses. It was time to go back to my roots, to express what horses mean to me. And although I don’t spend my days and nights in a darkroom anymore, I still live for the moments of magic when an image comes to life in my care, showing me the familiar with a heightened intensity that makes the depicted both completely new and absolutely well-known at the same time.
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As an artist I want the viewer to get that same experience. The feeling of presence, calm, the deep bond between man and horse. Every image I work with is selected out of thousands of photos. Some speak to me and I want to offer only those as works of art. I want the photos to say ”this is it”, ”this is what Icelandic horses are about”. Not flashy leg-lifting tools for human success.
Yes, I do take a stand. My life with horses has developed into an understanding of the horse as a being in its own right, a being totally dependent on us, but with needs and longings of his own. I dream of every horse getting those needs and longings fulfilled.
My photos are an attempt to depict what every horse should have: friends, forage, freedom. Through my art I hope to share not only their beauty, but their essence, a reminder of what they are and what they deserve.