Being Here

Hardcover, 112 pages

nynorsk, engelsk language

Published November 2024 by Skeleton Key Press.

ISBN:
978-82-692410-8-2
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Øyvind Hjelmen’s 30-year practice in photography—as any fortunate gallery director, book publisher, editor, critic, or friend can attest to—has been his presentation of an entire portfolio of photographs contained within a matchbox-sized container. Being Here, Hjelmen’s fourth monograph, a clothbound limited edition of 360 signed and numbered copies, expands and recontextualizes this experience in book form. After opening with a poem by Nobel laureate Jon Fosse, the book takes readers on a visually poetic and interior journey of Hjelmen’s enigmatic photography. The collection reflects a human desire or inclination (similar to photography itself) to leave a mark, to express “I was here” or “We were here,” even if only momentarily. Like Hjelmen’s portfolios, the expertly printed photographs in Being Here are reproduced small but reveal a surprising amount of clarity and possess a quiet resonance. As the open narrative unfolds page by page, evocative themes emerge: home, travel, awakening, abandonment, …

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