1:1 Hammarkullen

Cameraless images from Hammarkullen—a suburb to Gothenburg in Sweden, the home of the photographer. 1:1 is Zeitler’s third book with pictures from the area.

“A photogram is a photo that has been created without a camera, where the subject has been placed on or in front of a light sensitive paper and then exposed in some way. Photograms have existed since the beginning of photography with varying status, but always a little in the periphery compared with other techniques.
Previous photograms that I have seen were mostly made in a studio environment, while Zeitler here works in the field, in Hammarkullen. He makes it possible to depict the subject on site in the landscape, using living plants. And he is doing this in colour with extremely light-sensitive materials. The pictures in this book are repro-photographs of the originals. My thoughts go to Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy, who photographed their cameraless images to obtain negatives which could then be enlarged. Hendrik Zeitler has done the opposite; photographed his large originals and reduced the size for the book. When Zeitler shows these images in exhibitions, he is careful to show only the originals. For the special book edition he has enclosed parts, unique cut-outs, taken from original prints that were not used. For Zeitler, there is a dichotomy between books and exhibitions. He believes that it is a compromise not to see the original or feel the artist’s hand in the book. In this way, however, you get both a number of reproductions in book form as well as a signed original picture.”
Linda Bergman