Sandy Skoglund: The Artificial Mirror

Since the digital photography revolution, it’s getting harder and harder to remember a time when photographic editing couldn’t be done by just about anyone on their home PC, let alone a time when the authenticity of a photograph as an imprint of reality didn’t, more often than not, have to be questioned. At a point when idea of a photograph as an undeniable document is rapidly joining the realm of ancient history, Fotografiska in Stockholm invites its visitors to revisit the work of Sandy Skoglund.

Even if you don’t recognize her name, you probably recognize her Radioactive Cats. Or maybe Revenge of the Goldfish, especially if you ever had a copy of the Inspiral Carpets album of the same name? Like contemporaries Joel-Peter Witkin and Cindy Sherman, Skoglund is a pioneer of tableaux vivant photography. Her elaborate installations, the product of months of planning and the construction of theater-like stages, are artworks in their own right even before they are photographed with a large format camera. As photographs, however, the obviousness of the artist’s hand drew attention to the artifice of photography through their haunting imagery and overwhelming sense of falseness before that was an everyday question.

Who knows, you might even be inspired to dig out that old film camera when you get home.

September 10 – November 6, 2010 at Fotografiska, Stadsgårdshamnen 22,

116 45 Stockholm. Opening hours: Every day 10:00 am – 9:00 pm. http://en.fotografiska.eu/

Stockholm is home to two White Line Hotels, the waterside Hotel J on Nacka Strand and the island bolt hole that is Hotel Skeppsholmen.  Use them.

Images Sandy Skoglund (in order of appearance):  A breeze at work, Squirrels at the drive-in, Radioactive Cats

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Categories: Stockholm, Art, Photography

Contributing writer: Melissa Frost