So incredibly honored that one of my photos from my lates book Mayfly have been shortlisted in the Sony World Photography Awards.
#swpa #sonyworldphotographyawards





 

So many interesting meetings with people from different generations from my recent journey to Greenland. The results will end up in a book and the trip was made thanks to a travel grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.

I also met several young people that I followed in their everyday lives. The Corona crisis escalated in the very beginning of my trip and I had to work extreamly hard to recieve the material that I needed. Panic broke out in the small community, and I was seen as a source of infection coming from outside. An epidemic in the small village would have devastating consequences, so I could understand their concern.

I have the honour to participate in the collection exhibition at beautiful Gallery Axel in Stockholm. The image is my favorite one from the newly published book Mayfly. Please, come and see the works of so many talented photographers next week!

I recently returned from eastern Congo where I visited the Panzi Hospital and the transit accommodation Maison Dorcas among others. The sexual violence in DR Congo is brutal, massive and affects everyone regardless off age. I met several women who told me about the horrific abuses they suffered. But still, they had hope and faith for the future. Maison Dorcas is a fantastic place where the women can heal and get different skills to become subsistence. Neema Iruki Joice, 20 years today lives at Maison Dorcas. When she arrived, she was deeply depressed. Today she is a strong, charismatic woman with bright thoughts of the future. When she returns back home she will start her own sewing buisness.

Finally my lates book Mayfly arrived. Bookrelease coming soon!

This week I traveled to Print in Baltic in Lithuania to be part of the printing of my book Mayfly. As the perfectionist I am, I now try to accept possible deviations. I know I will never be completely satisfied with anything I do and maybe it is part of the necessary driving force. I now try to be proud of the independent continuation of my book Fade to Black that soon is completed. 

Finally my lates book Mayfly will be printed in a couple of weeks. It is a continuation of my book Fade to Black, a poetic pictorial suite with primordial, universal images. The photographs in this book, Mayfly, have, in their content and expression, a brighter tone, a more cohesive warm narrative of that which is close and emotionally intertwined, of that which holds our everyday lives together. 

Yesterday me and my journalist colleague met Devine Blessing for an interview. Her story is one of the most terrible one I have ever heard. 

The first time a man assaulted her she was at the age of five. Years later it happens again and again, by different men, in different countries; Congo, Tanzania, Namibia, Sweden. They were often several men and they raped her for hours, sometimes days. When she finally came to Sweden, the sexual abuse continued. This time by her husband. 

Today she lives divorced together with her children. Even though the scars will never heal, she decided to continue living, and her aim is to spread the story of her life. From time to time, she travels to the Panzi Hospital in Congo to give hope to the many women who come to Panzi hospital  to be treated for their injuries caused by brutal rape. 

Sometimes people say that women like Devine are strong. But I think that is a cruel thing to say. What choise has she got? What choise does anyone have with similar traumas like her? What does it meen to be strong? She could either die or continue to live, and yes that is strong of her to choose to live, but still; the pain in her are brutal, present and will always be a part of her, strong or not.