Research: Martina Hoogland Ivanow

Before I start showing the images, taken recently for my “Thames Project”, I’d like you to go through the work of one more photographer, whose painterly, poetic and nostalgic photographs appeal to me and influenced me to experiment with photography and slightly change my approach to the medium.

Swedish-born photographer Martina Hoogland Ivanow (born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1973) photographs her subjects in a very different way comparing with other art photographers.

Looking at her ethereal images, you’ll find yourself drifting off from reality and simply can find yourself somewhere in far away place.



Kerstin Hoogland-Jönsson and Eva Stockhaus From Far Too Close by Martina Hoogland Ivanow

Interview with Martina Hoogland Ivanow can be found here

Satellite series:

Far Too Close:

Official Steidl book description:

“Far Too Close is a visual meditation on distance, both physical and emotional, of closeness to a subject and remoteness from a place. Applying a dark mesmerizing aesthetic which conveys in her images a heightened presence as real as it is poetic, Martina Hoogland Ivanow interweaves family portraits and interiors of home with landscapes of some of the most remote and far flung locations at the very ends of the Earth. Over seven years she travelled to Siberia, Sakhalin Island north of Japan, Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of Argentina, and the Kola Peninsula in Russian Lapland. Each of these places has its own dark history and has been the focus of dispute and discontent. Combined with photographs of her own community, a literary tale emerges which shifts from disturbing to familiar and is about the very nature of photography, its capacity to relate history and emotion from afar and nearby”.

More images available to see on Martina Hoogland Ivanow’s website - http://www.martinahooglandivanow.com/