Nature is a mystery: strong and dominant but also fragile and delicate. Light and beautiful but also wild and threatening. Humans have always been dependent on nature, but nature could easily do fine without humans. In a troubled world and in our high-paced consumer society, the human need to be surrounded by forests and to walk the land is likely greater than ever before. An oasis of inspiration and calm, that symbolizes reproduction, sexuality, the birth of life and our inevitable death.
Timed with the emerging burst of spring, the new exhibit In Bloom will be opening at Fotografiska. It brings together 16 photographers all striving to understand and explore nature and humanity’s relationship to it. One of them is the renown British photographer Cig Harvey:
“There is war. There is a virus. In the time it took to write this sentence somebody died, somebody was born, a language disappeared, a mass shooting occurred, a forest burn begun, an insect crushed, an idea inched forward. My pictures are an urgent call to live. A primal roar. Be here, now. Experience this. Feel this. My pictures are of flowers, but they are not about flowers; they are about living and dying.”
In Bloom is a symbolic, philosophical and poetic exploration of nature through photography and video works and provides glimpses of how artists represent and work with nature today. Common for all of the exhibit’s artists is that they find their inspiration in lushness, regardless of whether they describe pleasure and frailty like Xuebing Du’s beautiful flower studies, brutality and control like in Ori Gersht’s violently arranged flowers or dominance as in Yan Wang Preston’s disciplined urban nature. In Bloom also includes three Swedish artists: Helene Schmitz and the artists duo Inka & Niclas.
“With its dazzling and shifting colors and forms, nature has long had a central role in art. We humans come from nature and are deeply rooted in it. It is in our DNA to seek out connections with it, whether we want to or not. For many, it is a source of physical and mental well-being, but it is also seen as a power outside of our control. I think that nature and art have commonality: both are calming and inspiring but also spark questions regarding our existence,” says Jessica Jarl, Director of Global Exhibitions at Fotografiska and curator for In Bloom.
In Bloom opens at Fotografiska on February 17, 2023.
Contributing photographers:
Alfredo De Stefano
Brendan Pattengale
Catherine Nelson
Cig Harvey
David Ụzọchukwu
Djeneba Aduayom
Esther Teichmann
Helene Schmitz
Inka & Niclas
Lori Nix / Kathleen Gerber
Ori Gersht
Santeri Tuori
Xuebing Du
Yan Wang Preston
