NYTT

NYTT-Vilket Hundliv

NYTT · 15 years · 1 page

Article scan

Loading article

Exhibition

The world-renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark is one of 15 photographers in the exhibition and book 15.

What a dog's life!

When some of the world's foremost photographers portray design chairs, the result is something truly special ... Text HANNA NOVA BEATRICE Photo MARY ELLEN MARK

"EVERY YEAR I HAVE a big dog party at my place. My friends dress up their dogs in fantastic creations and I take pictures of them," says 73-year-old American photographer Mary Ellen Mark. "I thought it was a perfect opportunity to use Alexander Lervik's chairs, the dogs got to pose on them. They really liked them."

Mary Ellen Mark is one of the greatest photographers of our time and has since the '60s made a name for herself with intimate portraits of people on the fringes of society, from circus troupes in India and homeless children in Seattle to drug addicts and the mentally ill. She found her calling as a photographer during the filming of Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at a mental hospital in Oregon in 1971, which a few years later resulted in her own photo project and the book Ward 81 about a care institution by the same name.

That she has now photographed a Swedish designer's chairs is unusual. Mary Ellen Mark's pictures of Lervik's chair Nest are part of an exhibition that marks his 15 years as a designer. Here, he has given 15 well-known Swedish and international photographers free rein to interpret just as many chairs. An interesting exhibition that highlights the role of design photography at a time when we heavily consume furniture on the internet and in magazines.

Among the photographers are greats such as Martin Parr, Lynn Goldsmith, Annika von Hausswolff and Gunnar Smoliansky.

The exhibition 15 premieres at Galleri Kleerup pop up at Klevgränd 10 in Stockholm October 5–13. The exhibition then travels on to New York. The book 15 is published by Arvinius.

English translation of the original article. Text read from the scanned original; small transcription errors may occur.