Facts: “Photography Stories”
“Photo stories” depict photography in Sweden from the early 19th century until our time. The work is about photographers and their images, but also about photography’s techniques, institutions and aesthetic and media traditions.
The book is published in collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Anna Näslund Dahlgren is the editor-in-chief of the book. Other writers are Solfrid Söderlind, Solveig Jülich, Niclas Östlind, Anna Tellgren, Lena Johannesson, Louise Wolthers, Björn Axel Johansson, Tyrone Martinsson, Cecilia Strandroth, Maria Nilsson, Karin Wagner, Jenny Morelli, Marta Edling, Elsa Modin and Pelle Snickars.
– I have described the book as a kind of portal for those interested in photography history – where the material not only consists of photographs and photographer names, but also of magazines, flyers and newspaper ads. And the breadth of the material is a very important point, says Anna Näslund Dahlgren, editor of the work and professor of art history at Stockholm University.
In “Photography Stories”, photo history in Sweden is drawn from the beginning of the 19th century until today in a chronological and thematic description, where the chapters are devoted to everything from photo albums, press photography, advertising and fashion photography to digital photography and surveillance photography.
According to Anna Näslund Dahlgren, the book can serve as a gateway to the research that has been done in photography within and outside Sweden over the past 40 years.
– The title alludes to the fact that there is not just one story – but several parallel ones. Here we look not only at the images themselves, but also at different technologies, organizations and media where photography has been discussed. We want to highlight photography as a social and cultural phenomenon, she says.
Diversity in the selection
In addition to newly written texts by the 16 writers, the book also contains 400 pictures, where, according to Anna Näslund Dahlgren, they have also strived for diversity in the selection.
– We are very careful that in addition to photographs, there would also be images of different types of photo studios, camera manufacturing, different types of cameras and image carriers. Among other things, there are pictures that show photographs in printed newspapers and pictures that show what a day root type and a celluloid film roll look like, she says.
According to Anna Näslund Dahlgren, an equal distribution between female and male photographers was also sought in the selection of the book’s images – which, however, proved to be more difficult.
A female photographer was Sigrid Lenkert, who ran Ateljé Lenkert in Stockholm and took many fashion photos.
– When it was men who were in charge of the photo studios and women who stood in the darkroom, it was the men’s names that ended up in the archives. In addition, the women were expected to leave their professional careers when they had started a family, which meant that female photographers often had a very short career and therefore are not represented to the same extent in the archives, she says.
Digital abundance
As for today’s reality, however, there is hardly any shortage of images – rather, the enormous number of photos we collect through our mobile phones can sometimes seem almost confusing. But whether the images will then be preserved for the future is another question – and a challenge for the museums of our time, according to Anna Näslund Dahlgren.
“Sooner or later you end up in a situation when the computer crashes or the mobile phone is dropped into the water without any backup – which is sometimes also described as a rescue, as we would otherwise be flooded with far too many pictures,” she says and continues:
– Today’s museums are now grappling with the question of how everything created on the digital platforms can be preserved. Another important question is who actually owns the pictures. So I absolutely do not believe that all the pictorial cultural heritage that exists today will remain for the future.