Born 1943 in Norrköping, now living in Stockholm, Sweden I am working as an art photographer. My first book Ending (2017) dealt with panic and getting old and the latest book, Beyond the Mirror (2018), continues where Ending ends and moves into after death fantasies and uncharted territories.
Sweden –
KT: How did you get into photography? When/what was your first encounter with photography considering you became an art photographer only at the age of 64?
LS: Photography and other image-based art have been on my mind since the teens. I did not consider a career in art but studied art history and philosophy at a mature age. The turning point came when after cancer surgery I felt like getting a second chance in life and decided to start a photo project, which later became Ending.
KT: In your powerful photo book ‘ENDiNG’, published by Bœcker Books, you have used photography as a medium to express your inner self, to understand the value of life through your emotional endeavour after a cancer scare. What do you like about the medium of photography in book format? What was the process of editing such intensely intimate and personal work?
LS: I believe the book format is one of the best ways to present photography. An exhibition can be powerful but for how long are you looking at each image and how many times? The book is there for your convenience whenever you like and can be distributed quite easily. When I get a new photo book I go through it a couple of times every day for a week and each time I see new things. Working with the Ending book and doing the sequencing I searched for a rhythm that conveyed my feelings for the subject matter. I like to be surprised when turning a page and try to avoid repetition. Although photobook communicates my fears for panic and dying, it also shows the happiness of a long relationship. I think I have the ability to look at my history without too much emotion and therefore the editing was more of handicraft than emotional.
KT: “Receiving a death sentence is special, to say the least. You think you know everything, have been through it all, and feel you can be practical about it. But it pierces your soul like a sharp dagger,” you write in the opening page of your book ‘ENDING’. What was your emotional state while working on this project?
LS: It was joyful! I was starting my ”second life” knowing to be free of cancer. The creative process was very stimulating and I was doing what I had been dreaming of all my life.
