Winter

Lars Tunbjörk (1956-2015)

Psychological and physical toll of the long, dark Scandinavian winter, captured through unembellished images of deserted streets, artificial lighting, and an atmosphere of alienation and seasonal melancholy.

Description

Lars Tunbjörk’s Winter (Swedish: Vinter), created between 2004 and 2007, is a deeply personal and culturally specific exploration of the Scandinavian winter. As an established Swedish photographer known for his vibrant use of color and flash photography, Tunbjörk shifted towards a more melancholic tone in Winter, influenced by his personal experiences with seasonal depression. The project captures the psychological weight of the long, dark winters in Sweden, portraying a stark contrast to the traditional, romanticized depictions of winter as a time of warmth and festivity. Through a series of photographs taken across Sweden, Tunbjörk documents the isolating, sometimes absurd, and frequently bleak realities of life in the coldest months of the year.

Set against the backdrop of a society often marked by stoicism and social withdrawal during winter, the project presents an unfiltered look at the emotional and physical landscapes of the season. The images reveal deserted urban spaces, artificial lighting casting eerie glows over snow-covered streets, and individuals captured in moments of solitude or social encounters tinged with exhaustion. Scenes of dimly lit interiors, abandoned vehicles trapped in slush, and the muted expressions of people navigating the season communicate a sense of alienation and stagnation.

Tunbjörk’s use of direct flash heightens the sense of detachment and amplifies the artificiality of winter lighting, emphasizing the contrast between the natural elements and human-made environments. The sequencing of images alternates between vibrant colors and monochromatic snowy compositions, enhancing the project’s somber tone through contrast and rhythm. The overall project’s tone can be seen as a transformation in Tunbjörk’s photographic philosophy from satirical critiques of consumerist culture to a more contemplative focus on atmosphere and emotion.

Published by Steidl in 2007, Winter debuted in museum form at Moderna Museet (Stockholm, 2007) and has since circulated widely—appearing in later museum and festival presentations in Europe, the United States, and Japan, and recurring as a core chapter in posthumous retrospectives of Tunbjörk’s work.

Behind the work

Tunbjörk received an assignment from the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper in 2004 to travel around Sweden and photograph whatever he wanted for a few weeks in the middle of winter, which served as an initial incitement for the Winter project. He initially found it difficult to find motives but found his way into the project during a trip to Kiruna, north of the Arctic Circle, a place with constant night during midwinter, where he started photographing everything he saw with "fierce attack" as his deadline approached.

Quotes by the photographer

"My work has been changing from rather easy-going to more melancholy. This has to do with society’s evolution, but maybe also with the personal, with age. The pictures that interest me the most in my own production is those where I’ve managed to interweave my subjective view and mental state with an objective documentary portrayal of our time."

"I often feel beside myself in the wintertime, and I try to go to warmer and lighter places. But the last couple of years I have traveled into the winter and darkness instead–into areas, conditions and encounters in which I don’t really know where the outer and inner begin. And even less where they end."

"It was difficult because I had previously been dependent on the bright and clear light to be able to photograph. But once it worked, I renewed my imagery well and truly. It became faster and harder. On the other hand, it took a year before I thought I had something going on."

"It was almost like therapy. I usually end up in some kind of darkness in January. With Winter I somehow tried to attack it."

"In my photography, I often begin by photographing a situation in some place that interests me. It can be a street, a square, some particular work place, a café or a shopping mall. At first it’s the milieu that interests me, and then I often try to keep hanging around until I find a person that also interests me, and who’s acting in this milieu in some specific way. Thus, it’s largely a matter of waiting."

"I want to be strictly documentary, but it’s all about me."

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