Time flies. It's now 2023 and already February.
I'd like to share some thoughts and recent happenings. As I mentioned in a previous post last December, I'm participating in the Cultural Heritage Program here in Umeå, Västerbotten.
This program is an EU - De Minimis grant aimed at cultural enterprises. In my case, it's to support my vision of developing my artistic photography. Lately, I've been giving this ambition a lot of thought. Striving to be a "real" artist isn't easy. I've been working full-time as a freelancer for a while now, and in many ways, things are stuck in comfort and the familiar.
Entering the art world is both fascinating and daunting. I've been pondering a lot about everything that has led up to this. One thing that influenced me greatly was when I first got to know the artist Mark Gibbs, now a dear friend of mine. We met online over a picture of a muskox that I had taken. Fast forward, I later participated as one of 15 artists in the extensive group exhibition - Adventures at the Rheged Centre in Penrith, UK. It was a fantastic exhibition, finely curated by John Stokes. I was honored to exhibit my pictures from the icebreaker service in the Bothnian Sea next to Mark's sculptures and paintings.
Why am I writing about this, which happened so many years ago? Maybe because I've realized that certain moments in life can be significant, and when it comes to my ambition in art photography, this is one such moment. Now I have several projects, and my dream is to get others interested so I can continue exploring my ideas. Later today, I plan to buy some marking tape for my upcoming project: "TRAKT", a term used in forestry to denote forest stands of similar ages; it also means, in Swedish, a local place, like your home region.
At Scharinska villa after filming. The happy film crew from Bautafilm.
Speaking of which: I must mention that as part of the program I'm participating in, I had the opportunity to have a short film made about me by Bautafilm here in Umeå. I felt a bit awkward in front of the camera, but overall it was a pretty exciting experience. It's so hard to have something interesting to say for a short 2-minute video. Luckily, I haven't heard my voice yet. It will take some time to accept. But if the result isn't too terrible, I promise to post that video on my website later.
Until next time. All the best,
Andreas