Nordic Village

The Nordic Village

Nordic Village is a talent platform for emerging Nordic artists. Since 2018, this project has showcased over 20 artists from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland in the main festival program. Selected artists have been chosen for solo- and group exhibitions in Finland and abroad such as for a pop-up exhibition at World Village Festival and Nordic Culture Point library in Helsinki and at the Cultural Centre of Palethe at the Belgian photo festival Lens op de Mens in 2019. Events with Nordic experts are part of the festival’s program.

The Nordic Village 2020 was hosted in The National Museum’s Summer Yard.

Selected Nordic Artists of 2020

© Hans Jørgen Ro, Memory #4, 2020

Saturn Return

Hans Jørgen Ro (NO)

Hans Jørgen Ro is a student of photography from Oslo, Norway. He is currently enrolled in the Advanced Photography class at Bilder Nordic School of Photography.

© Geir Moseid, Prospect, 2019

Undertaking

Geir Moseid (NO)

Geir Moseid is a Norwegian photographer living and working in Oslo, Norway. Since his graduation from London College of Communication in 2008, Moseid has been working on multiple photographic series in which documentary practice and staged photography meet. By working with a 4x5 inch camera, Moseid aims to challenge the way one can perceive and discuss social, anthropological, and economical issues in contemporary photography. Moseid seeks a connection between the viewer and the world through the shared experience of common, recognizable scenarios even if they originate from everyday life, TV, cinema or advertising. His work aims to trigger emotional responses in the viewer that stem from the politics of stereotyping, gender classification, the forming of independent and group identities, and the barrier of prejudice. Communication and a humanistic approach has always been at the base of his creative practice even though the narrative’s elements within the work often remain open and ambiguous. To Moseid, a focus on colour, texture, ambiguity, and human relationships of various kinds are of paramount importance.

© Tomas Olsen, 5, 2020

Inanimate

Tomas Olsen (FI)

Tomas Olsen (born 1995, Helsinki, Finland), is a still life and portrait photographer. Curiosity and experimentation are the core foundation in his creative work.

© Magnus Cederlund, Asti Intime, 2015

Intime

Magnus Cederlund (SE)

Magnus Cederlund is a Swedish artist who has been living and working in Copenhagen, Denmark for the past 30 years. Cederlund’s first book SKIN CLOSE was published by journal-photobooks.com in 2018. The artist is currently working on his second photo book Cafe Intime that is soon going to be released by Journal. Cederlund has been exhibiting his photographic work both locally and internationally since 1989. His latest achievements include, for example, a photography exhibition at Fotografiska, Stockholm in 2018 and Tevere Art Gallery, Rome in 2019.

© Carl-Mikael Ström, cms_05, 2019

Inevitably it will rain

Carl-Mikael Ström (SE)

Carl-Mikael Ström was born 1986, in Sweden. He currently lives and works in France. The artist studied photography at Fatamorgana in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 2013-2014. He was an assistant to a Swedish photographer JH Engström between 2014-2018. Ström works with photography, writing and film. He moves between the different mediums, using time as his essential tool to let the frame of the project become visible. Intrigued by what cannot be explained through language within images his work revolves around the question: ”What is there that can be shown but cannot be said?” He believes that an image has endless forms and that time passing inevitably shows, even in a photographic image. Convinced that there is always more behind what you intend to say, he tries to accept the restraints and limitations of creations.

© Renja Nurmi, Faith & trust III, 2020

Modern Faith

Renja Nurmi (FI)

Renja Nurmi is a photographer and graphic designer working mainly in the field of journalism. Her series Modern Faith was created as part of a photo reportage course that Renja took during her Visual Journalism studies at Tampere University. Religions, spirituality and the emotional togetherness in religious communities have always fascinated her, and the artist feels that the spiritual side of people’s lives in this modern world isn’t represented and talked about enough.

© Anna Ellen Hamlet, Through your eyes I see universe ~ Daya Nam, 2017

Through Your Eyes I See Universe

Anna Ellen Hamlet (SE)

Anna Ellen Hamlet graduated from Gothenburg Photography School in June 2016. Alongside photography, she works as a part-time nurse. Hamlet’spictures are an experiment with the photographic image of mankind and what it means to be alive. “With my photographs, I explore our innermost, myself through others and others through myself. The search for what’s behind the mask. Hamlet"

© Reiko Ishida, Reiko 8, 2018

Isolation

Reiko Ishida (JP/NO)

Reiko Ishida (born 1987, Tokyo, Japan) moved to Norway in 1988. She is a classically trained pianist and a self-taught photographer.

© Maria Lax, Untitled 3, 2016

Some Kind of Heavenly Fire

Maria Lax (FI)

Maria Lax is a London based photographer, originally from a small town in Northern Finland. She is known for her use of colour and for seamlessly blending reality and fantasy in her work. Lax’s background in cinematography shines through in her strong use of lighting and experimental camera techniques. Her work has been exhibited worldwide and published in TheGuardian, British Journal of Photography, WIRED, American Suburb X and Financial Times among others. She was of the winners of the British Journal of Photography’s Female in Focus award in2019 and her project Some Kind of Heavenly Fire was shortlisted for thePHmuseum Photography Grant 20.

© Berglind Hreidarsdottir, Sameiginlegt 35, Mutual, 2019

Mutual

Berglind Hreiðarsdóttir (IS)

Berglind Hreiðarsdóttir (b.1994, Selfoss) is a visual artist from Iceland who is researching her own connections to the photograph. Theartist completed her bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the IcelandicUniversity of the Arts in 2018. Later that year she became one of theco-creators of studio B6, a space in Reykjavik that serves for events,exhibitions, and working artists. Berglind is currently participating ina collaborative project with Rhona Ewe Clews through the Arts TerritoryExchange. In early 2020 she moved to Malmö, Sweden from where shecontinues to pursue her artistic career.

© Mogens Kjoeller, Havnebyen, 2019

Mogens Kjoeller (DK)

Fragments

After working within strategies, planning, and change management for several years, Mogens Kjoeller decided to follow his longstanding dream and went into fine art photography. He received a Post-Baccalaureate in photography from Massachusetts College of Art & Design in Boston and completed a Master’s degree in Photography Arts at WestminsterUniversity London in 2019, tutored by Prof. Davis Bate and Dr. LucySoutter. Kjøeller’s work has been exhibited in Boston and in London and will be shown at Incheon Marine Media in 2020.

© Nadja Hallström, The Last Wild Horses 4, 2019

The Last Wild Horses

Nadja Hällström (SE)

Nadja Hallström (b. 1980) focuses primarily on the artistic expression within photography. Her work spans from animals, to portraits, to personal projects. Hallström grew up in Stockholm within the family of a rich art tradition. She works as a freelance photographer and is widely assigned by different book companies, film companies, and magazines. Hallström has lived and worked in Stockholm, Berlin, New York, and Greece. She has received grants from The Swedish Art Committee (2018), The Swedish Journalist Organization (2018), The Film base(2017), Helge Ax:son Johnsons (2016), Längmanska Culture Fund (2012) and Helge Ax:son Johnsons (2009). She has been involved in the following books: Personligt: samtal med fritänkare and Enröd stuga med en halvmåne på gave’. Hallström has exhibited in solo shows at Eyubi Stockholm (2007), Elverket Stockholm (2008), Neg Pos Frankrike (2009), and in group shows at Planket Stockholm (2007), Moisoff de la Photo Paris (2008), M&C Saatchi London (2008), Centre for Photography Stockholm (2009), Moderna Museet Stockholm (2009), the Swedish Embassy Berlin (2010), Planket Stockholm (2011), Planket Berlin (2011), Väsby Konsthall (2011), The Vanderbilt Republic Gowanus Loft New York (2012), Planket Stockholm (2013) and Gallery Kontrast (2014).