“I very seldom go anywhere to take photos.
I take photos because I am somewhere.” – JH Engström, 2003
Swedish photographer JH Engström (b. 1969) is known for his personal photographic series, in which he has expressively documented himself and those around him. As a photographer, Engström relies on intuition and boldly connects with his models. In his award-winning photography books, he has been liberally combining different styles of photography for his entire 20-year career.
Engström’s childhood was marked by the family’s move from the Swedish countryside in Värmland to Paris. The contrast between the countryside and the metropolis also punctuates his photography: his breakthrough book Trying to Dance (2004) was done partly in New York and partly in Värmland. In his latest publication, the 17th photography book Crash (2017), Engström once again returns home, where nature is permanent and the human life ever-changing.
The exhibition at the Finnish Museum of Photography is, to date, the broadest sample of JH Engström’s artistic production, with photographs from 1991 to 2017.
The exhibition is part of Helsinki Festival 2018.
