A Picture is worth a Thousand Words

Fotografiska is the red building on the other side of the water

On my last day in Sweden, friends invited me to visit the new photographic museum, Fotografiska, with them. Since I have an interest in photography this seemed like an excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon. A very packed tube journey later (Labour Day was being celebrated all over the city with marches and rallies) we arrived at the building on the edge of the water. Three photographers were being exhibited – Albert Watson, Edward Burtynsky and Jonathan Torgovnik.

We started on the lower level with the Scotsman, Watson. He has made a name for himself as a fashion photographer, having photographed the likes of models, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, as well as famous sportspeople and singers. The variety in his work is so huge that it is hard to believe that all the photos were taken by the same person. On display were some unusual variations like the headshot of Mike Tyson taken from the back. He also had and interesting sequence of photographs of Michael Jackson taken in the 1990’s. The photos seem to have been cut into strips and then put together again.

Moving up a floor, we found the environmental photography of Canadian Burtynsky . He has done a series of photographs of our relationship with oil and depicts the destruction of the land and sea through drilling. There are also photographs which show the waste related to the industry like piles of discarded tyres and graveyards of rusted cars and planes.

The final section was the heartbreaking account of the Rwandan women and the children who were born from their rape during the genocide. I think I managed to read three of the stories which accompanied the photographs before I was so overcome with sadness that I had to leave. After the very emotional few days I had with the World's Children’s Prize, this was just too much to bear.

Jonathan Torgovnik has systematically recorded the stories of some of the thousands of Tutsi women who were raped in 1994 and “the children of bad memories” as they are called. In one of the stories a woman who tells of her ordeal makes it so clear that there was no way that she was able to love this child she had borne. On one level I could understand that, but on another I felt such pain for this child who has been condemned to grow up without love.

Many people were visibly moved by the exhibition and I was hyper-sensitive to the tension in the room. I moved off into the area where a video interview with the photographer was being shown. He was making the point that many of the men who committed such horrible crimes have simply moved over the border and are probably doing exactly the same thing in the Congo or somewhere else. I am constantly amazed by the pain we as humans can inflict on one another, and especially on the children who we have been entrusted to take care of.

View from Fotografiska

We retreated to the restaurant to compose ourselves with a cup of tea. The huge windows look out over Stockholm, light years away from the worlds we had just been exposed to. The museum is worth a visit. 

For more on the photographers and their work visit:

Edward Burtynsky

Albert Watson and

Jonathan Torgovnik

Jonathan Torgovnik has also started a foundation to help the mothers and children.