Anna Linderstam

Anna Linderstam creates quiet dramas. In constructed interiors, performative action is condensed into expressions of emotion, within photography and video. The models have been instructed by the artist, who carefully has planned each image. By controlling the visual elements, space and light are utilised as tools, to create an atmosphere, reducing the subjects to objects outside of determinable time and place.

Linderstam creates her own photo aesthetics, reminiscent of trompe- l'œil painting with a chiaroscuro effect. There are formal references to classical sacral paintings, which when combined with the large scale of the works, allows the viewer to identify with the conditions explored, and to relate to the subjects depicted as something levelled and important, almost like icons.

All of the works contain an ambiguous relationship between the constructed scenery and the authentic physical state of the model. Hypnosis, blindness and physical exertion have been used to temporarily disrupt emotional patterns and common habits, so that the subject is letting go of control and ‘gives herself over’ to the photographic gaze. Linderstam emphasises how this process doesn’t have to imply only a loss, but also a tender act of becoming something new.

Anna Linderstam is a Swedish artist, currently working and living in Stockholm and London.


(words and images from Peter Lav Gallery site)