Staged Work:

Places II

( Sleeping Places, a photo series, 120 x 80 cm )

“Sleeping places in central Stockholm, January 2015” is a series of photographs of some of the many sleeping places that are furnished on the streets. I feel like I am looking straight into bedrooms without walls, ceilings, beds, and closets. It’s a space that should be private.1)About 100 people who had been sleeping on Sergels Torg were evicted on February 11, 2015. The City of Stockholm opened a space where some can spend the night. Individual triage was also performed on site for possible referral to emergency social services. “Tiggare kördes bort från Sergels Torg”, Sveriges Radio, February 11, 2015. Accessed April 26, 2016. www.sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=6090826.

( Closets, a photo series )

“Closets on the Street” is a series of photographs that shows how bedding and belongings are stored during the day.

8.1. Sleeping Places and Closets

1.

I have shadowed them, noted time and place and gone up to them and asked for permission to photograph. In exchange for a hundred kronor I’m lying on the street, pressing my bendy gorilla tripod against the wall of a building to get a vertical line and a straight horizon to frame blankets draped over bodies. There is a pair of black shoes in front of the blanket. 

When I adjust the focus – moving the red focus cursor as far out to the right as I can – she pops into the image and gives me a big smile. I hear the others giggling around me. What’s so funny?

I’ve asked them for an image. She’s giggling at me. What kind of images am I really getting here? She makes me see how I see them, how I’m crawling around on the ground to get this image.

Stockholm, Sveavägen, December 2014.
Stockholm, Sveavägen, December 2015.

Chapter 8: Places II
Note

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1. ☝︎ About 100 people who had been sleeping on Sergels Torg were evicted on February 11, 2015. The City of Stockholm opened a space where some can spend the night. Individual triage was also performed on site for possible referral to emergency social services. “Tiggare kördes bort från Sergels Torg”, Sveriges Radio, February 11, 2015. Accessed April 26, 2016. www.sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=6090826.