Summer 26′ – Anton Corbijn in Sweden
On July 7 this year, Anton Corbijn visited his own exhibition at “Sliperiet” in Borgvik, Sweden. This old wood pulp mill has, over time, built up an incredible list of world-renowned photographers on its exhibition CV. I’ve tried to catch the exhibitions there over the past few years. This year was no exception.
I had already made plans to visit the Åmål Blues Festival, so it worked out perfectly when I saw that Corbijn was going to take part in a panel discussion and talk about his work on the Tuesday of that same week in Borgvik, just a few dozen miles from Åmål. So I arranged tickets and brought along my good photographer friend Tony Berg from Åmål. Joining us was also Maria Olsen, another Åmål photographer.
When we arrived, there were plenty of familiar faces. Mona Johansen and her daughter Kaja Namila Felicia Husmo was there, my good friend Liz Palm had made the trip, and of course Corbijn’s Nordic agent, Ellen K. Willas, was there too. Ellen and I were both members of the Norwegian Association of Advertising Photographers back in the early 2000s, but Ellen has really made her mark with “Willas Contemporary”, an agency now based in Stockholm, as far as I know. I remember Ellen’s humble beginnings out in the old flight control tower at Fornebu. You have to respect what she has built and accomplished. This October (10–25 October), she is behind a major exhibition featuring Arno Rafael Minkkinen as part of Oslo Negativ. I will definitely try to make time to see it.
But back to Corbijn. He talks about the coincidences that have taken him from one thing to another. One thing often leads to something else, and then it branches out further. And suddenly, you have a body of work that, in many ways, carries itself. It would be wrong to say that history repeats itself, but this is not the first time I’ve heard well-known photographers say that they never planned such a journey. It is often a matter of coincidence, especially at the beginning of a career, when suddenly gaining access to well-known figures may help break the ice and open doors to more opportunities.
And when you have the talent, finding those expressive compositions comes naturally. You are not always calculating; you are simply playing with your creativity. That’s when magic happens in the image, I think. You see things that many others might overlook because the focus, the heart, and the talent are not quite there. Corbijn has shown throughout nearly an entire lifetime as a photographer that he has something of his own. Something to contribute beyond the ordinary. And of course, it helps when the people you are photographing are named P.J. Harvey, Miles Davis, David Bowie, Johnny Cash, and Mick Jagger…
Corbijn works mostly in a monochrome landscape. Sometimes there is an even wash of colour across the entire image, such as in one of his iconic photographs of the artist Björk, with its blue-tinted colour field.
I returned the day after the talk, after my first impressions had had a night to settle in. It is always nice to return to an exhibition after a break, when things have had a chance to sink in a little. It becomes easier to notice details that may have escaped you on the first round.
I have to say that I really enjoy these quiet moments in galleries. Moments when I can calmly form my own thoughts about working processes, about the choices the photographer has clearly had to make, and, not least, take the time to discover more about what I like in different photographers’ images and what appeals to me less. These are important reflections in relation to my own photography.
You develop by studying the work of others. And, incidentally, the photobook is an exceptional tool that is always available.
And speaking of photobooks, without any comparison intended, I have just received Michael Ackerman’s new release, “Homesick New York”. I’ll just say this: What a book. What a design. What a foreword by Michael himself. And finally, what an atmosphere in the images. It goes so incredibly deep into my soul that I have to study it in blocks. It is almost overwhelming! Well, there, I had to say that too.
So thank you, Anton Corbijn. Thank you to Ellen, who works actively to make exhibitions like these happen. And finally, thank you to Michael, whom I simply had to mention at the very end, completely unrelated to everything else!
Thank you!
Text/photo: 2026 © Morten Gjerde