Female intelligence and escapism

The photography of Lisen Stibeck is the result of a craftsmanship, honesty and a never-ending exploration of female intelligence.

WORDS: MARIE BIRDE, PHOTOGRAPHY: LISEN STIBECK

Photo courtesy of Lisen Stibeck, www.lisenstibeckphoto.com

Lisen Stibeck is seated in the few rays of daylight her studio can catch this rainy morning. She eyes her latest series of photographs when the quote about women slips out from the corner of her mind. All she can think about right now is how it’s time to highlight women and their endeavours to create a change in the world. Her pictures, a mixture of dreams, craftsmanship and art, presents blurred shapes that turn into a female body when you look closely. In a way, the images represent herself as a person.

She names the series, “Women in the flow” and hopes the pictures will encourage common female strength, intelligence and power. But if they can give the beholder a moment of rest or room for escapism, she is happy with that too. The images are, of course, open for interpretation and as long as her pictures awaken emotions or a sensation of recognition, then she feels she has succeeded. According to her, that is what photography is all about.

Stibeck is a jewellery designer who later became a photographer. She is a photographer who lets her pictures take over her whole world. She constantly carries the projects in her heart and they usually take years to complete. She can talk about each image for hours… how she met the models and won their trust. How she feels she portrays them as who they are at heart, the way they want to be, even though they themselves may have forgotten. And how their relationship went beyond the camera and further.

Photo courtesy of Lisen Stibeck, www.lisenstibeckphoto.com

“You have to be honest when you work as a photographer, otherwise it's like you’re stealing the souls of those you photograph.”

When Lisen Stibeck chooses the subjects of her portraits, she does it with great care. She is drawn to those who otherwise hide: the invisible and vulnerable. People who are looked down upon or those who, for various reasons, ended up on the fringes of society. What the subject’s profession is, or where they are from, is never revealed. Stibeck remembers when she was once criticised for always choosing good-looking models. “With beauty, it’s not very difficult to create something beautiful,” they said, but the critic misunderstood everything. In her own peculiar way, Stibeck manages to bring out the hidden beauty in everyone, it has nothing to do with looks.

When describing her efforts, it becomes clear that the subjects seems to choose Stibeck, instead of the other way around, as is usually the case with people who see the world in the format of polaroids.

But Stibeck’s camera lens constantly aims inwards and the finished product keeps surprising the world. Her simple method is to treat people respectfully, she states. She learnt that from her mother, who always treated others the same, no matter what. “When you learn human value as a kid, you carry it with you forever. I really believe there is good in all people,” she says.

Stibeck first discovered the magic of photography in an antiquarian in Stockholm. She flipped through a book by Mary Ellen Mark. At that time, she neither knew that Mary Ellen Mark was an icon in documentary or how important she would become in her own life. The book fascinated her and she couldn’t let go of one of the pictures: the one of a woman in a bathtub. She still couldn’t let it go weeks later. The fact that one image could convey such strong emotions intrigued her.

Photo courtesy of Lisen Stibeck, www.lisenstibeckphoto.com

Many years later Mary Ellen Mark became Stibeck’s mentor and a strong friendship developed between them. Stibeck explain, “Mary Ellen didn’t want to influence me, but she pushed me to express myself. She also taught me to believe in myself and to bring out my true self.”

There are similarities between the work of Mary Ellen Mark and Lisen Stibeck. They both create intimate portraits, and some of them could easily be mistaken for stills from a movie. Their photographs tell you stories outside of the frames, you just have to ask the right questions.

As a photographer, Stibeck describes herself as curious and fearless. Thanks to her camera she has found herself in porn clubs in Mexico and met prostitutes in Morocco. “But I am not a fool,” she says, adding, “I know when I can gain someone’s trust and when to stop. I’m always transparent with my work and what purpose my pictures are supposed to have. You have to be honest when you work as a photographer, otherwise it's like you are stealing the souls of those you photograph.”

Stibeck is still in touch with many of the women she has portrayed, and if they need her help she is happy to give it. To not let go is part of the process, and to never compromise with time, even if the projects take years to conclude. Even for the photographs themselves, she has chosen a time consuming and complicated analogue developing technique.

“I need the time, and my hand, to fill the pictures with all the emotions that comes with them. It's hard to explain but without the touch of the hand the photographs never feel 100 per cent.”