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Thursday 16 March - Saturday 22 April 1995
Kicki remarks about her work: "I take photographs for myself, it's not my profession, so why do I want to take part in exhibitions? I guess it is a way to be disciplined, set up goals and keep on working with new ideas. I also love being in the darkroom ... alone ... it's all about myself and my thoughts. Is it important that people see my pictures? Maybe, maybe not."
"I think my work is about my search to find out why I take photographs and, in that way, its relation to me and my life. I recently noticed that my work was starting to change. It used to be landscapes but now it is simpler. It seems that I am looking for objects, forms and shapes. This last year I have been concentrating on photographing objects that give me a feeling of meditation, these are the ones exhibited."
She adds a quote from Roland Barthes: "I see, I feel, therefore I notice, observe and think".
Kicki works instinctively/ already seeing the finished print in front of her when taking a picture. "It is a process of subconscious 'learning' that often seems clear only when a project is finished, or sometimes a lot later. To me, the working process is meditative and the objects photographed become, no matter what they are, shapes, forms and grey scales." Deliberate indistinctness characterizes her work, bringing life to the images.
In the words of her 'very special teacher' Frank Watson: "I never try to analyze or even 'understand' any of Kicki's photographs. I would find it all too limiting to go into detail, to pick them apart and put them together again as if they were some kind of a riddle or a picture puzzle. Some photographs can take this, and some are even richer/or it, but not Kicki's photographs. The are icons for the mind and it is best to just look at them and live them, to let yourself be carried away by them and drawn into them and absorbed by them."
Born in Vasteras, Sweden in 1963, Kicki Rosenløf graduated from the National College of Art, Stockholm and later completed an M.A. in photography at the University of Industrial Arts in Helsinki. She now teaches Graphic Design and Photography in Uppsala. Committed to her teaching, it provides a deep satisfaction. She describes being with and inspiring her students as extremely rewarding.
Although there's not much time left over for her own work, she is nevertheless addicted to photography. "If I had a lot of free time I would have the time to think more and dare less!" Icons for the Mind is Kicki's third private exhibition, her work has appeared in several publications, hangs in private and public collections and has been exhibited as far afield as Tokyo.
PRESS / invited guests welcome at the opening. Wed 15 March 1995 5-8 pm.
Photographer in attendance
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About the exhibition: "ICONS FOR THE MIND"
I take photographs for myself, it's not my profession, so why do I want to take part in exhibitions? I guess it is a way to be disciplined, set up goals and keep on working with new ideas. I also love being in the darkroom ..alone.. it's all about myself and my thoughts. Is it important that people see my pictures? Maybe, maybe not.I think my work is about my search to find out why I take photographs, and in what way its related to me and my life. I recently noticed that my work was starting to change. It used to be landscapes but now it is simpler. It seems that I am looking for objects, forms, and shapes.
This last year I have been concentrating on photographing objects that give me a feeling of meditation, these are the ones exhibited.
An introduction to Christina Rosenlof's photographs by Frank Watson
It seems as if it has become exceedingly difficult to distinguish between original expression and the antics of those people whose originalness lies in being among the first to follow the latest trends. Everyone talks about "doing your own thing", finding your way and expressing yourself through photography but very few actually do it. It has been my privilege to know a few photographers who have developed their own 'voice' and Kicki is one of them. I have seen her photographic language develop over a period of many years and am filled with admiration for the work she has done.I never try to analyze or even "understand" any of Kicki's photographs. I would find it all too limiting to go into detail, to pick them apart and put them together again as if they were some kind of a riddle or a picture puzzle. Some photographs can take this, and some are even richer for it, but not Kicki's photographs. They are icons for the mind and it is best to just look at them and live them, to let yourself be carried away by them and drawn into them and absorbed by them.
A brief introduction to my work
I was born in Vasteras, Sweden 1963. My original profession is as a nursery- school teacher, but after I finished those studies in -84 I tried other things that I was curious about, for example studying a bit of Graphic Design and working as a paste-up artist.In -87 I took my first photo class and all of a sudden the big world of taking pictures opened up in front of me. I had never used a proper camera before, I was really taken by this new experience and I dropped other classes to concentrate on photography. I took another course, worked as an assistant photographer for a year, studied photography for 2 1/2 years at another school and I also took some summer-workshops.
The subject of my final work was unsharpness.
*A smaller print of this artwork is for sale at www.photography-for-sale.com/auc0326
During this time I applied to the Academy of photography at Konstfack, the National College of Art in Stockholm and I was accepted. After two years at Konstfack I went on an exchange to the University of Industrial Arts in Helsinki and after a year I was accepted to do an M.A. in photography at that school.
I graduated in December -93 and since then I have been teaching Graphic Design and photography. From August -94 I have been teaching only photography to students of age 18-22.1 have been taking part in quite a number of group exhibitions and in the summer of -91, I had my first solo exhibition. This one "Icons for the mind" in GALERIE 24 will be my third private exhibition.
As I already have a profession, the teaching, I have never really been thinking of photography in professional terms, it has become something very important for my private and emotional life, and even if I worked as an assistant to learn the technique and for a while thought that I maybe would make a reasonably good fashion photographer, I have always been a bit apprehensive about really becoming a professional photographer. Scared of losing the integrity of my work.
I think the teaching, trying to inspire others is very fruitful for me. I really enjoy being with my students, and besides that, I try to have time for my own work. Photography for me started as a very personal matter. I used to be very afraid of the dark. I had to do something about it to be able to do photography. Now it has changed a bit, I want to exhibit my work and discuss it with others. It is not so deeply connected with my personal development anymore. I think in projects and I have been studying a bit of symbols in images and realised a bit of backgrounds to pictures I did in the past.
My technique is very simple, I use old cameras 6x9 mostly, sometimes 6x6 and I now love being in the darkroom. It is difficult to describe the aims of my work, I work rather instinctively. I look upon it as a process of subconscious 'learning' that often seems clear only when a project is finished, sometimes even a lot later. For me, the working process is meditative and the objects photographed become, no matter what they are, shapes, forms and grey scales. I see the finished print in front of me when I take the picture.
observe and think"
Roland Barthes
The photographer Tony Bos about one of Kickis photographs
It is a very dark image with no brilliant highlights. A rather dim atmosphere that tends to obscure the content. There is a nice tension in obscurity and clarity: the object photographed is without defined content and the atmosphere is underlining this, though it is not an abstract image either. As a viewer I am balancing on the edge of: Do I know this or don't I? Do I recognise this or don't I? Furthermore, there is a sensuous angle as if a hidden sensuality is visualised. The organic shapes of the object are almost like an embrace. The picture shows and does not show, tells and does not tell, reveals and does not reveal.A Swedish journalist wrote an article about the work of Francesca Woodman and made the statement: "It is more important never to stop asking yourself questions, then it is to have all the answers to them." and maybe that is why I take photographs, to ask myself questions.
The graphic artist Denis Steen about Kicki's final work
... the deliberate unsharpness gives life to the images, that sometimes can be associated with an impressionistic landscape-painting... Her pictures give a sympathetic impression in their quietness.
The photographer Sture Ekendahl about Kicki's final work
Where is the picture? Does it exist in reality or only in the viewer's brain? Should a picture be clear or should it only help the viewer to create their own picture? To start that process in the viewer only simple things are needed, therefore I especially like the most simple images in Kicki's collection, vague nuances and not too many details. When an image gets too complicated or too clear, as a viewer I may loose my inner picture and maybe I then also find the unsharpness irritating.Tags: Kicki Rosenlof, Christina Rosenlof Hansen, Finland, Sweden, Icons of the Mind,Galerie 24, CIRCLE-24, the Hague, the Netherlands
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