Agnes Thor

I see these landscapes as portraits. What you see is not only grass, trees, fields. The images are a reflection of me, and also allow the viewer to see themselves. Aurora Borealis is a personal story, portraying both familiar and foreign surroundings and like memories the photographs are neither fictional nor real, but are nevertheless true.

It’s said about portraits that we look for our own image in the portrayed faces. In my photography I don’t look for my mirror in other people, I try to find it in the world around me. I’m like a collector, gathering these environments and compiling them to a new world.

This world, is partially built on memories of the stories I was told as a child. These tales take place in the Nordic woods and often describe a world which exists beside reality, as opposed to beyond or above the “real”. In this world of tales, things easily transform - a rock or a tree is suddenly a forest creature, the mist becomes dancing fairies. Being brought up with these stories, I tend to look for and photograph these moments when the world is something else then ordinary.

Aurora Borealis was released in 2010. It has also been exhibited at Röda Sten in Gothenburg and at Bryggeriet in Nora, Sweden.