New Portraits, 2000-2002

Anastasia and Nina, Zermützel, 2001, C-print, 141 x 111 cm

New Portraits is a series of portraits of people in landscapes and cityscapes. The people presented are from my own milieu. The serial form allows the viewer an insight into the relations among the subjects, to each other and to themselves. Reading my portraits over time is like reading a story, a slowly evolving temporal encounter with a group of individuals. In my direct, confrontational, yet subtle approach to the subjects, the photographic encounter itself comes to the foreground. It is crucial to capture the atmosphere in which a meeting has taken place between the photographer and the subjects, the interaction between them is openly exposed. In the frontality and directness of my portraits lies an invitation for the viewer to take part. It is an exchange, looking and being looked at. I relate as much to August Sander and the neo-objectivist tradition as to a contemporary scene concerned with close reality and subjective experiences.

Peder, Svorkmo, 2000, C-print, 141 x 111 cm

Eline and Ella, Holmenkollen, 2000, C-print, 141 x 111 cm

Stella and Katsue, Maiden Lane, 2001, C-print, 141 x 111 cm