“I am drawn towards something lonely, quiet and empty.” In this video Trine Søndergaard takes us on location in an abandoned house, tracing the life once lived there. Meet an artist, who defies today’s constant bombardment of images – with pictures.
In the spring of 2013 Trine Søndergaard (b. 1972) had exhibitions in Copenhagen, Göteborg, Dortmund and New York, and her work is receiving growing international attention.
In this interview Søndergaard talks about the path which has led her to where she is today, and how, at the beginning of her career she wanted to be a “real artist” rather than a photographer. But then she discovered that she could do something similar to painting with photography. The pictures became a buffer between her and the world, mirroring the world around her, as well as aspects of her inner life.
In one of her series called ‘Interieur’, Søndergaard takes pictures of empty rooms. The life once lived there is gone, but by exploring the emptiness, you catch traces of the time left behind. “My work is about exploring the world and understanding myself in it”, Søndergaard states. She underlines that her art has never been political and that she does not want to state strong opinions about things. As an example Søndergaard mentions her pictures from the Danish island of Fanø in the series named ‘Strude’ – a series, that portrays young Danish women in local garments and face-veils which are in some ways similar to burqas. Of course in a way this is a comment on the debate about the veiling of muslim women in Denmark, Søndergaard states. “But it is a visual commentary. I want my pictures to be open and leave room for interpretation.”
Trine Søndergaard was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner.
Camera: Mathias Nyholm
Edited: Rasmus Nyholm Schmidt
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner, 2013.
Music: Arvo Pärt
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
Meet more artists at channel.louisiana.dk
Louisiana Channel is a non-profit video channel for the Internet launched by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in November 2012. Each week Louisiana Channel will publish videos about and with artists in visual art, literature, architcture, design etc.
Read more:
channel.louisiana.dk/about
Supported by Nordea-fonden.
source
