The photography museum of Stockholm is really worth a visit. Not only for the exhibitions but also for coffee with a view at the top floor of the museum. It was the perfect indoor hide out for us during our visit in january. We survived a fairytale-like snowstorm to get there, but we really enjoyed the artwork and the surroundings. It’s a three-in-one sightseeing spot really… art, view, shop.
When you’re visiting stockholm in winter, you are going to need warm places to stay and to visit. Fotografiska is one of them you should see. We went to see the work of Elliot Erwitt and Jill Greenberg – both stunning photographers.
The exhibition of Jill Greenberg presents portraits of monkeys, apes, grizzly bears and a polar bear all of which are animal actors. So like the portraits Jill Greenberg has been assigned, she captured them with the same human connection. And the similarities between them and us are striking. We can’t help but identify with their personalities or be reminded of people we know, have seen and expressions that we recognise. The images display happiness, sorrow, anxiety, fear, anger and other familiar emotions.
One of her most controversial and much-discussed works is the series of crying children. Jill Greenberg used the series to express her anger with the Bush administration and fundamentalist Christian groups that have gained more influence in American society. These are technically perfect studio images and one wonders how she got the children to cry. Simple. In many cases the children cried on their own, but for some-their mothers offered them candy, then asked for it back. “Of course I don’t like making children cry,” Jill Greenberg explains, “but as a mother, I am quite aware of how easily toddlers can cry; a joyful smile can dissolve into a grimace of despair – it’s the way children communicate when they can’t use words.”
Go and see for yourself:
FOTOGRAFISKA STOCKHOLM
Stadsgårdshamnen 22
116 45 Stockholm