Sken

2022-

In a trial and error process of understanding image memory and its effect on personal history, I'm investigating how images I'm revisiting shape memories around the time when the image was created.

In Sken I use a camera flash from the 1980's that was found among my grandfather's photo equipment. Connected to an ultra sound sensor that measures distance, the sensor triggers the camera and flash when an object (me) comes within the set distance.

The strong and sudden light from a camera flash is usually used to illuminate objects and people during photography in dark conditions. Here, the flash becomes an object of its own that I'm interacting with in the photo session's creation of pictures. The light from the flash composes the pictures by blending into the background like another sun, dazzling out my face or creating a focus point in the form of a light source.

The work's Swedish title Sken translates to the English verb Shine, but also has the meaning appearance in the Swedish dictionary. Gaslightning is another word where light decribes when a victim is misslead and manipulated till the point he doubt his own memory. This term is another examples where the word ljus/light is used to describe veracity and a person’s perception of reality. The word's meanings and contradictions reminds me of how easy it is to change an event through images