![]() TA: This picture was taken on the border between Norway and Sweden, a good hour’s walk uphill from the road where I had parked my car. I concentrated mostly on the people who define themselves as Forest Finns and who live around this area. The culture is very alive here, and there is a strong sense of identity with the past. It is also the place where the Forest Finns first settled in the early part of the 1600s. TA: I started out in the small town of Svullrya, which is considered by many the ”capital” of the Forest of the Finns. Can you talk about how you decided to shoot your subjects? Did you pick the people you wanted to photograph beforehand, or did the images come about spontaneously? What do you think they add to the series? LC: “Slash and Burn” includes several striking portraits. If for no other reason, then I would say it was the mystical qualities of the forest and the shamanistic elements of the culture that brought me there in the first place. So perhaps that is where it comes from! I like to believe that there is some sort of divine reason for why I do what I do. Moments later, he told me it is because I was, myself, a Forest Finn six lives ago. When I could not give an answer right away, he turned away and quietly consulted his pendulum. However, during a gathering of the Norwegian Dowsing Association, where I photographed in the Forest of the Finns, I was asked by one of them why I was so interested in their culture. I am not from there and, as far as I know, I don’t have any ancestors from the area. TA: A lot of people have asked me why, and I always have a hard time answering. LC: Why were you drawn to document the Forest Finns initially? What intrigued you about them? It would never have arrived to where it is today without the input and advice I received during that class. Lastly, I should mention that I did an ISSP Masterclass with Aaron Schuman where I worked on this project. I have a lot of images that never made it, mostly because they did not fit the visual language that had developed by the end of the project. In terms of consciously trying to achieve this look, I worked a lot by gut feeling and used this also as a guideline during my editing. I have tried to translate these elements of spirituality into my photographs, in an attempt to create a kind of Narnia, a magic world, in which the idea of the Forest Finns inhabits. They believe that all things, living and dead, possess a spirit and therefore can be communicated with. My vision of them shifted as I became increasingly interested in the shamanistic understanding of nature they had brought with them from the east. This change was a result of time spent with my subjects and learning more about the Forest Finns’ history. Perception and memory adapt as we move along, so it is difficult to see it with “old” eyes. When I look at it now, it feels like this is the way that it was always meant to be-but of course I know that that is not true. Over time, it slowly evolved to include more conceptual methods such as staging and physical interventions in the photographs. ![]() In the beginning, it had a much more straightforward visual language, so to speak. Terje Abusdal: The visual approach to the project definitely developed along the way. Did you move towards this “look” gradually, as you worked, or was it conscious from the start? Once you were sure you wanted the series to have this aesthetic, how did you achieve it with consistency? LensCulture: Your images from “Slash and Burn” have a mythical, fantastical feeling. I am looking at what remains in a time when the 17th-century way of life is long gone and their language is no longer spoken. This photographic project draws on these beliefs while investigating what it means to be a Forest Finn today, some 400 years and twelve generations later. Rituals, spells, and symbols were used as a practical tool in daily life one that could heal, protect, or safeguard against evil. The Forest Finns’ understanding of nature was rooted in an eastern shamanistic tradition, and they are often associated with magic and mystery. There are no statistics on their numbers in fact, the only official criterion for belonging to this minority is that, regardless of your ethnic origin, you simply feel that you are a Forest Finn. Today, the Forest Finns are recognized as one of the national minorities in both Norway and Sweden. Yet more and more people feel a connection to it. ![]() The Forest Finn culture, as it was four centuries ago, no longer exists. ![]() The journey was an essential part of their existence, as mobility was necessary to continue their slash-and-burn practices. In the following decades, they spread across the forest areas of Scandinavia in search of land with the best and highest-density spruce. Many of the migrants went southwest and tried their luck in the wilderness. Alec Soth’s Juror’s Pick, Magnum Photography Awards 2017. From the series “Slash & Burn” © Terje Abusdal.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |