Memento Mori — first image in the Konstlada

The first photograph has found its place in the Konstlada — not in a finished gallery, not behind glass, not in a polished white room, but on a wall of raw timber, at the foot of a staircase that still has to be rebuilt.

Konstlada 63° Norr under construction - first picture hanged on Mai 13, 2026

That feels right.

The image was made from a scanned 4x5 inch negative, photographed in the ossuary of Stans, Switzerland. Rows of skulls, traces of lives, matter returned to its quiet form. Calcium carbonate. Bone. Dust. Stardust, if we follow the thought far enough.

For me, this is not a dark image in the theatrical sense. It is not about shock, and not about decoration. It is a reminder that what we see is only a temporary arrangement. Bodies, houses, landscapes, barns, photographs — everything is form for a while, then changes.

Here in northern Sweden, this thought has become part of my photographic search. I am not looking for spectacular views or instant satisfaction. I am interested in traces, structures, silence, weather, distance, and the slow presence of a place. Ångermanland is not a backdrop for images; it is a landscape that asks for time.

The Konstlada 63° Norr is still a construction site. Floors are being rebuilt, walls repaired, rooms slowly cleared and shaped. But perhaps that is exactly the right moment to show a first image. Not as a final statement, but as a beginning. A marker. A question on the wall.

The photograph is mounted deliberately simply, without glass, with a visible provisional character. It does not pretend that the room is finished. It belongs to the present state of the place: unfinished, precise enough, open to change.

In a time when images often ask for immediate reaction, this one asks for something slower.

Look longer.

Think with it.

Stay a moment.