The surreal worlds of Helena Blomqvist

Photographer Helena Blomqvist has no intentions to portray the world as it is. Instead, she creates her own particular worlds, into which she invites us.

WORDS: OSKAR HAMMARKRANTZ

Group portrait in Forest “The Elephant Girl”, 2011

Helena Blomqvist deals with topics like dreams, longing, vulnerability, loneliness, death, the supernatural and the ominous dark of the night. Her pictures refer to a past cinematic world, themes from art history, sinister dramas, theatrical scenes, horror stories and brutal real events.

“In my photographs, I build a world by hand, using models and props, making digital collages. I work intuitively, weaving imagery from art history, books, films, and real events into intricate and subjective stories that are uniquely my own,” she says.

In her combined home and studio in Södermalm in Stockholm, Blomqvist creates her own worlds, stories, and fairytales in the most detailed way. To produce her phantasmagorical compositions, Blomqvist first starts with blank paper.

“I always sketch out my ideas before I start. Then I build my sets and models. I sew clothes, rent accessories, contact models and so on. The preparation and the creation of an image are just as important as the final result. What the viewer sees is the sum of all my thoughts.”

Helena Blomqvist’s combined home and studio.

“What the viewer sees is the sum of all my thoughts.”

Some of these scenes require several months of work before the shutter button is triggered. Blomqvist’s images are like snapshots from a fairytale, a frozen frame that makes the viewer wonder what happened before and after that exact moment.

“Instead of chasing moments, I create the moments in my build up sceneries. I get inspiration from looking at old photographs. I want the experience of stepping into another world. To be seduced by the dreamlike visuals and narrative.”

Blomqvist made her debut as an artist in 2003, and since then her work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, including in leading museums around the world. Her works are represented in collections at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg, and many more.

At first glance, it is easy to see Blomquist’s images as captured frames from her own thoughts and dreams. But if you look closer, you will find both humour and comments on current issues, like the environment or feminism.

“I’m both inspired and worried by the present times, and you can see my images as social criticism. But I do it as poetic reflections rather than with ambiguity. I want to be the one quietly observing. I like the naive feeling, but there is always a seriousness behind it.”

“I’m both inspired and worried by the present times, and you can see my images as social criticism.”

Masquerade “Florentine”, 2016

Blomqvist works in series, usually consisting of 15–20 photographs, where every series can take two to three years to complete. She has also published six books so far. The most recent is called Florentine, published in 2016. Florentine is a graceful, tiny older woman. A former prima ballerina, created by Helena Blomqvists imagination. Photographed in Blomqvist’s meticulously crafted sets of ornate theatres, rehearsal halls, and once-grand rooms, Florentine teaches mice ballet, attends fantastic parties, and daydreams at home. All are captured with technical brilliance and an exquisite feeling for lighting and hue. The old lady also becomes a symbol for all the great female personalities of the 20th century. “In my mind, Florentine is very old, and she hallucinates in her loneliness. She looks back on the last century and remembers, but some things are shrouded in the mist.” If Florentine’s memories of her earlier life are real, or if they are just dreams or even hallucinations, we will never know. But does it really matter if a memory is for real or not?