Kjell-Åke JanssonWhen the Shadow May Fall

“The ongoing covid-19 pandemic uncovers the basic message in this book project, which consists of photographs divided by quotes from Stig Dagerman’s autobiographical essay Our Need for Consolation is Insatiable.

The quote on page 36* touches on a burning issue. We know that the pandemic originates from wild animals being caught and sold on markets and that their habitats in the forests are depleted. The pandemic has also exposed our fear of admitting weakness and vulnerability.

A desireable result of this book is that it leads to discussions about our existence beyond political deadlocks.”

/Kjell-Åke Jansson

* “One kind of freedom, I realize, is forever gone. It is the freedom that comes with owning your own element. The fish has its own, the bird its own, the land creature has its own. […] Thoreau still had his Walden. Today, where is the forest in which human beings can live in freedom, outside the hardened molds of society?

I have to reply: nowhere.”