In his detail-rich, subdued black-and-white photographs, Norwegian photographer Oyvind Hjelmen documents the changes in a house that was home to generations and now is gradually disintegrating. Objects disappear bit by bit, leaving behind empty spaces on the wall like lapses in memory. Are reminiscences lost along with these everyday items, or are they first invoked by their absence? Opening the small-format leather folder, one enters a secret realm that is deeply personal and yet tells universal stories.

„The relatively small square photos invite an intimacy with the viewer. Each masterly printed black-and-white image can be held in the hand like a small fragile bird, and viewed with a sense of delicate wonder at the richness of detail and the beauty of imperfections. These are images of spaces (imagimed or real) inhabited and abandoned, traveled through, enjoyed fully, but now, in these hand-held testaments to memory, quiet and still, but never empty.“ (Jim Casper, Lensculture)

Artists: Oyvind Hjelmen

11,5 x 15 cm
12 b/w ills.
Leather-bound folder
Edition of 15
available
ISBN keine / without
300 Euro
2009