The F Blog

07 June 2008

invited guest: Graciela Iturbide

Angelito, 1984
© Graciela Iturbide
Courtesy of Galería López Quiroga

Jano, 1980
© Graciela Iturbide
Courtesy of Galería López Quiroga

Madona 1980
© Graciela Iturbide
Courtesy of Galería López Quiroga

Graciela Iturbide from Mexico is one of the true masters of photography. For us living in Sweden it is a special feeling to know that she will be in Gothenburg on 25 October to receive The Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography of 2008. The Hasselblad Prize is sometimes called the Nobel Prize of Photography and we could not think of a better choice for this award than La Maestra Graciela Iturbide. From a Swedish perspective we are glad to learn from a chat with Graciela on the Hasselblad site, that she has visited Sweden several times and that she is familiar with and highly appreciate the work of photographers like Christer Strömholm and Anders Petersen.

The Hasselblad Foundation says: "Graciela Iturbide is considered one of the most important and influential Latin American photographers of the past four decades. Her photography is of the highest visual strength and beauty. Graciela Iturbide has developed a photographic style based on her strong interest in culture, ritual and everyday life in her native Mexico and other countries." For more about the Hasselblad Prize visit: www.hasselbladfoundation.org/

Mujer de las iguanas, 1979
© Graciela Iturbide
Courtesy of Galería López Quiroga

Mujer Angel, 1979
© Graciela Iturbide
Courtesy of Galería López Quiroga

The F Blog is very proud to be able to present a selection of Graciela Iturbide's work. These photographs have been selected by her personally and are provided by Galería López Quiroga in Mexico City.

We dedicate this weekend of the F blog to Graciela. The news says that Sweden is right now the warmest and sunniest place in Europe. We believe that it has something to do with the warmth emanating from Mexico, La Maestra Graciela Iturbide and her photography. There is magic in everyday life, she has shown it to us in her pictures from Mexico and elsewhere. Her work is a gift to all of us, regardless of nationality or ethnic origin. Please stay tuned to this magic, continuing tomorrow with an interview given by Graciela exclusively for The F Blog.

Graciela Iturbide photographed Mexican Americans in the White Fence barrio of East Los Angeles as part of the documentary book "A Day in the Life of America" (1987)

A selection of other publications: Los Que Viven en la Arena (Those Who Live in the Sand), 1981; Sueños de Papel (Dreams of Paper), 1985; Juchitán de las Mujeres (The Women of Juchitán), 1989; En el Nombre del Padre (In the Name of the Father), 1996; La Forma y la Memoria (Form and Memory) 2002; Pájaros (Birds), 2002; India México, 2004; Eyes to Fly With, 2006; Roma (Rome), 2007; Juchitán, 2007.

Upon the launch of the Juchitán series she received the prestigious W. Eugene Smith Award in 1987.

Graciela Iturbide has exhibited widely at major institutions and museums around the world, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Her photographs have recently been on exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Her work is in major collections in Latin and North America, and in Europe.

The Graciela Iturbide weekend on The F Blog is a cooperative effort by Beatriz Rowland, Fredrik Skott and Ulf Fågelhammar.

06 June 2008

all you need is (F) / docu:08 love in the city

love in the city / Stockholm / 08 / feel the spring ;)*

(F)riday again!

Happy Tails

photo: Jeanne Wells

When I send out my Daily Print on Friday, I rejoice a bit because that's the end of my week. Then I scoot over here to the F Blog and share it with all you good folks. Could life be any better than that?

05 June 2008

Roadbumps and evolution....

Some years ago a bunch of people decided that there would be no more casualties caused by traffic in Sweden. They have spent a whole lot of time, thinking and money to invent something that we on the countryside has had for a long long time...

Roadbumps.

So, by doing absolutly nothing you actually can be ahead of technical evolution...

Go figure that one out...

dalmatine

Photographer © Jan Bernhardtz

04 June 2008

faces of 1926

A Swedish school class of 1926. Provided by Margareta Cortes. Photographer unknown.

frontal crash

Photo: Walter Neiger

Fiat 500 travelled all the way to Poultikasvaara

Our first car, when I was a little girl was a Fiat 500. We were so proud of it, although it did not have a real back seat, just a board where we put a matress. It was not a powerful car, I remember us cheering on Dad and the Fiat when the road went upwards in order to get us to the top.
Poultikasvaara is Sami language and means "nettle hill"
Text: Margareta Cortes Photo: Karl-Gunnar Roth (her brother)

03 June 2008

Old Family Photos

John Hope Franklin wrote about the "Negro" in society, and he said that in some parts of the nation, there were black folks who were a part of "society." Either their skin color (more often than not) or their educational levels gave them entree into the hoity toity world of vacations, balls, college frats and sororities, and houses of their own.

My parents were teachers in a small, Southern town. They had been taking vacations since the 1940s. Of course, they always stayed with friends and family, but Fernandina Beach aka American Beach was my first vacation with them. When I see them sitting there so young and happy, I have to pinch myself. They never showed displays of affection in front of folks.

My Mother was a lady and my dad liked to think of himself as a hoodlum, but he really wasn't. They worked together for almost 60 years, and when death separated them, the pain in my father's face was so intense, I had to look away. My favorite memory of this couple involves my father looking at my mother as I looked at him. I watched his features soften and the color in his hazel warm as he looked at my mother's face. They were a team, and now I'm glad they're back together.

The Afro-American Motel was the crown jewel of American Beach--the part of Fernandina Beach that we could visit. My first trip there was as a six month old. Across the street from the motel was a house made like a ship--it had portholes and everything. When I returned at five, I used to watch that house for hours. It was one of the first houses I had seen that had a garage, so every time the car disappeared into the house, I was amazed.

My grandmother was born in Fernandina Beach, and I've traced her ancestors back two generations. She had a cousin named Harry Treye who only had arm, but Mr. Treye could do anything a person with two arms could do. We used to go to the Treyes whenever we visited Fernandina, and it was such a treat. It was a huge (from my pre-teen years) house with a wonderful front porch and a bathroom that was added later and was situated on the back porch.

Our days in Fernandina were spent on American Beach in the mornings and sight seeing in the afternoons. When I look at the pictures now, none are as touching for me as the one of my parents when they were young and almost carefree. I love their lineless faces--their vibrant skin--their ability to touch each other unabashedly. It is hard to see them so alive when I remember how they were when they left me.

Text by © Annye Refoe
in cooperation with William Schmidt who scanned the photos.

Father and car

Benny Persson from the beautiful province of Blekinge says: "This is a double exposure (probably deliberate) of my father and his car. Photographer unknown. Date: End of the 1950's."

the ambush

at the train station

Photo: Jan Bernhardtz

untitled

Photographer: Rebeca Martell

Just Different

Invited photographer of The F Blog Risk Hazekamp is one of the artists participating in this exhibition held at Cobra Museum of Modern art in Amsterdam;" 'Just Different!' is the challenging title of an art exhibition about sexual desire, gender and identity construction in the visual arts at the turn of the 21st century." Open 14 June to 21 Sept. For more: cobra museum

from a family album, Scotland

The photographer was my father, Daniel Hepburn. The girl is an unidentified child at my grandparent's old house in Scotland. - Darren Hepburn

02 June 2008

King Edward

Potatoes offered, 10 kilos King Edward is 6 kronor.
Photographer ©Jan Berhardtz

red house

Photographer: Malin Hellesø

Ariel 1918

Fotograph Åke Jonsson 1918 Gräfsnäs

Social protection (understanding the Swedes)

photo: abeku

the mask

01 June 2008

family album: view from a Fiat 600

My father, a passionate photographer, used to shoot with a second hand Agfa Silette (that has been my first camera when I was 10-12 years old). No light meter and focusing by guessing distances. It’s 1963 (one year before my birth). Two couples went for a trip in a winter day with my father’s second hand Fiat 600: my father Gian, his sister Anna Rosa, my mother Marilù and my uncle Franco.

During that trip he shoot two funny “portraits”. In the countryside downhill a big stone is put under the car wheel… an escaped danger for my mother, trustfully smiling looking outside the car-window. The picture of my aunt Anna Rosa strike me for her beauty almost like a movie star, but in that weird location looking at the wall (but… was her husband Franco hidden there?).

In both cases: one unattractive location, the car, a lonely woman inside looking out. It’s a scheme with quite a distance mood… but funny isn’t it? - Text: Paolo Saccheri, photos: Gian Saccheri

Ladies in the park

Photographer © Thomas Håkansson

untitled photograph

Photographer: © Rebeca Martell

lilla landet (the small country)

From a reflective photographic project. The photos depict current Sweden and will soon be released in a photobook called "Lilla landet".
photographer © Thomas H Johnsson
www.thomashjohnsson.se

Meeting two unknown, but well-known

photo: abeku

meeting photographers

The F Blog is continuosly working on strengthening the bonds between the "virtual" and the "physical" world. Well, sometimes it´s hard to keep them apart as our "real" lives seem to get more and more integrated to the virtual world. But the world is one..and why not have a look at some great photographers that we have met...in real life ( well...or interviewing via email)