Pressrelease
Klara Källström ”Russian Bang: Bombing of Stockholm 1944”
Opening December 8 2012, 2-6 pm. Exhibition runs until the 30th of December.
What actually happened that night between 22 and 23 of February 1944, when Russian airplanes swept over a sleeping Sweden and dropped bombs over Stockholm? The event usually referred to as the “Russian Bang”, is a mysterious incident that few know of or remember. No fatal injuries were found, however; the bombs hit buildings and several trees. No obvious reason behind the attack has been identified, although the theories are numerous.
The unsolved mystery serves as a catalyst to Klara Källström’s new photo project “Russian Bang: Bombing of Stockholm 1944”, which is premiere shown at Nextart Gallery in Gothenburg. Källström seeks out trees in the affected areas – they act like eyewitnesses – in search of possible clues. Nocturnal landscapes are lit by the camera’s strong flash and the exposed branches and stems are examined with intrusive precision.
“Russian Bang” illustrates how the power of preconception forms the actual watching. As in “Wikiland”, which Klara published in cooperation with photographer Thobias Fäldt and 1:2:3 and for which Källström and Fäldt were awarded at Scanpix Big Photo Award, the project emphasizes how easily perception is influenced by an indicative guideline. In “Wikiland”, Klara and Thobias are following the famous Wikileaks-leader Julian Assange, but the intimate portraits of Assange never appear. The connection between the content and the title is not crystal clear. We are reminded of photography’s subjective and ever-changing nature and how images combined with texts have been used as manipulative tools.
“Russian Bang” is the first part of an ongoing photo-project based on Swedish myths that Källström has initiated in collaboration with Fäldt. The exhibition presents 11 tree-portraits in color. A new publication, published by B-B-B-Books, is also launched at the opening. In this piece of printed matter documentary footage is intermingled with fictional interpretations in verse, written by a so called mythographer. The publication is issued in a limited edition of fifty copies.
Klara Källström (born 1984) has after the examination at School of Photography, in Gothenburg 2009, exhibited her work in both group –and solo exhibitions. The latter category includes exhibitions at the Swedish Institute in Paris, Swedish Museum of Photography in Stockholm and The Popular Workshop in San Francisco. Klara has also created the art at Danderyd hospital’s tube station in Stockholm. Together with Thobias Fäldt and the designers 1:2:3, she runs the publishing-company B-B-B-Books, where many of her photo projects have been published. All book titles from B-B-B-Books can be purchased in Nextart’s bookshop.
For more information or press images, please contact Sara Arvidsson at +4670-940 81 18 or sara@nextart.se
