CARLA ÅHLANDER BY NIKOLA DIETRICH, CURATOR
Carla Åhlander (born 1966 in Sweden) portrays in her photographs a state of permanent difference of
individuals in relation to their particular social environment. She shows sometimes directly, sometimes more
subtly the unequal power relationship between for example men and women, using a distanced view of
unusual groupings of people. She takes on the eye of a neutral observer making the scenery visible, which
constitutes the everyday, and as such is almost imperceptible to the fleeting passer-by.
Her photographs do not melt together into one picture, but they are presented as one group. A prerequisite
for the dynamic of the reciprocal commentary is that the photographs may be seen simultaniously as distinct
entities and as relying on oneanother.
Carla Åhlander often photographs her subjects from a distance. However, it would be wrong to speak of the
artist as a completely indifferent onlooker, as the photographs claim a certain tender intimacy. In addition it is
possible to see the distancing as an aid to see the world more clearly.
One series of three photographs shows a man viewed from far away, always from the same camera
perspective, crouching on a stone block on a street roundabout. He marks out the calm centre of the
photograph and his changes of posture from picture to picture underlines the man's isolation from his
environment and the poorness of this scene.
In another project she fly posts posters in public spaces. The poster is divided into two: the upper half shows
a square velled in autumnal fog, where two military vehicles (a tank and a van loaded with armaments) are
so placed, that they appear to be on show. Somebody sweeps up autumn leaves lying around the vehicles. In
the lower half, two women hoover the carpet in the foreground, in front of a painting hanging on the wall
behind them. A man in a suit with a briefcase walks past them without giving them a second glance.
The pictures communicate with eachother in a sensitive, subtle way: through the cleaning of military
machines and through the representation of these people at their work place, they say a lot about power
relationships and in this way on the one hand carry a political message, and on the other deal with the theme
of communication.
Through the fact that the poster hangs in a public space, next to other posters, but does not have any text,
one takes time to assimilate the content. One stops and searches: What is being announced? What does it
relate to? Does it have a purpose? Relevant questions about the reception of art in public spaces or the art
space and the viewer, are also alluded to in this work in that the artist leaves the institution of the art space
and uses the city as her exhibition space.
The people in Carla Åhlander's photographs often appear isolated in a particular way, and unable to
communicate themselves, as they are only serving a bigger, invisible order.
Nikola Dietrich, Curator
Portikus
Frankfurt/Main