Lena Källberg

Szwecja - Sweden

Årsta

I have been working with pinhole cameras for more than 10 years, experimenting with different cameras until I find the right one for the expression I’m after for a particular subject or project. My pinhole work has been shown in a number of exhibitions and in print in Sweden and internationally, including OFFO 2009, 2011 and 2013. Occasionally I work as a workshop leader, teaching pinhole photography and darkroom technique. When I do not, I am a freelance writer and translator.

I often use very often small pinhole cameras, such as a matchbox, that allows me to use 35mm film. By handholding a small camera like that, it is possible to create fuzzy renderings of reality that are distorted enough to confuse the viewer regarding what is actually in front of the camera. At first, this was something that I found difficult to control, but I have since learnt how to use this quality, or flaw, to create images that transforms everyday sights into glimpses of a different world, as it were. A world which is always present, but not discernible to the human eye. The ability of the pinhole camera to turn the everyday visual experience into something otherworldly sparked the idea of creating a series of images from an unknown earthquake, a natural disaster that could happen anywhere, turning your familiar surroundings into a nightmare. In addition, expired photographic material was used, in order to create a look of images that could have been found somewhere in debris following the disaster. The images in this series are all unique silver gelatin prints.