Carl-Mikael Ström

Inevitably it will rain

Carl-Mikael Ström (SE)

Carl-Mikael’s latest project Inevitably it will rain is based on a quote by Ludwig Wittgenstein: ”What can be shown, cannot be said” (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus). In this project, he wishes to challenge the idea that photography is a language. Through his work, the author is questioning the viewer by asking: What is in his photographs that can be shown but cannot be said?

According to Carl-Mikael’s belief, how people see and perceive images is a reflection of their cultural knowledge, learnings, language, and life experiences. This is what the artist calls the “logical picture”, for example: If we see an image of an apple, we identify the object as an “apple” within the “actual image”. Anything that we are able to identify within the image he calls a “logical picture”. He suggests that there are two types of images: “Actual images” and “possible images”. The “actual images” depict the subject matter as an object contained within the “logical picture”. This way, he refers to the physical reality of an image: Frame, book, canvas, screen, etc.

Within the above-mentioned connotations lies the question of whether people have the ability to step outside of their limiting minds to reach the “possible images”. “Possible images” are those images that go beyond the “actual image”. They contain surreal elements, poetry and emotions that cannot be properly identified or explained through language or rationality. This is why Carl- Mikael believes that being skeptical about objects within the frame of the image is a prerequisite necessary to consider when viewing photography. Poetry has to be pragmatic to be relevant. There is an isomorphic tension between the photograph and the actual object it depicts. Within this tension for him lies photography’s strength. The photographs presented in his series aim to be seen as a visual mental ladder for the viewer to bridge the gap between the “actual” and the “possible” image.

Various artworks of the artist were exhibited at the National Museum of Finland and JCDecaux Finland.

© Carl-Mikael Ström, cms_01, 2019

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Carl-Mikael Ström was born in 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.

© Carl-Mikael Ström, cms_05, 2020