Lyder langt unna (Sounds far away), exhibition by Malene Økland
"The photographs are quiet observations. The project started in the spring of 2020, a period when much was unclear, and several of us suddenly had a lot of time freed up. Lyder langt borte started as a result of that, and the slow pace you fell into. A lot stopped indefinitely, and I opened my eyes to things that had already been standing still for a while. There's something beautiful that emerges from boredom, and I wonder if it's less likely that it occurs because of all the distractions we surround ourselves with. Is it more difficult to be present in the real world when we are in so many other rooms at the same time?
My work is based on the everyday and the close. It is with a starting point in my own emotional life that I take pictures that I hope others can relate to. I find it exciting to see things that age or change shape over time, and I photograph people and bodies with the same photographic gaze as I portray objects or things that have a form of physicality to them."
The project Lyder langt unna was published as a book in autumn 2021 and was for sale at, among others, Haugesund Billedgalleri and at Tronsmo in Oslo. Excerpts from the project have been featured in the magazine Fotografi on the occasion of the photography portfolio award, at the Preus Museum during the day of photography and have been shown at the photo festivals Haute Photographie Amsterdam, OFF Bratislava and Polycopies Paris after I was selected to be part of FRESH EYESTalent 2022.
