Tag Archives: iran

Money, money! Prices and quality

Leave a reply

Or why it is increasingly difficult to take the world elite’s luxury art industry serious. And why there are better deals at places no one has heard of…

Take a close look at these three images:

rain

# 1

 

LandscapeDrops_1_PhSh

# 2

 

Lanscape Drops2_PhSh

# 3

The basic idea behind them is pretty similar. It’s a landscape shot in rainy weather through a window filled with raindrops. It’s a gray day; dark mood. The camera has been set to focus primarily on the raindrops and thereby make the landscape further away bleary.

It’s a – fascinating – phenomenon in and of itself: what our eye do not see sharply at once demands more extra attention and reflection. German artist Gerhard Richter has used this challenge too in numerous of his works in which you think you see a blurred photograph while in fact it’s an oil painting. # 1 is the relatively sharpest image.

Then there are some obvious differences between the three.  Continue reading →

Creating “People Of Islam” and why the Iraq War made me a photographer

Leave a reply

I opened this exhibition with the subtitle – Photos From Iran, Iraq, Somaliland and Marrakech – on April 3, 2015.

It has come about in a quite natural way. I have worked in some countries where Islam is of fundamental importance and so been exposed to the people living there as well as their problems – problems related to conflicts and war.

I did fact-finding in Iraq in 2002 and 2003, I do peace work and photography every year in Iran since 2012; I worked in Somalia between 1977 and 1981 and visited the self-proclaimed independent Somaliland in the Northern part in 2014 and I spent a week in Marrakech, Morocco, in February 2015.

But it wasn’t a planned project. I don’t do projects in the sense of saying to myself that, in the next few years, I shall concentrate on a certain theme, produce a number of works and then exhibit them. That is not part of my concept. My work and general curiousity takes me to places and, while there and in between having meetings or giving lecturing, I shoot pictures.

Ahmed, Baghdad 2003 - mild eyes indeed © Jan Oberg

Ahmed, Baghdad 2003 – mild eyes indeed © Jan Oberg

This is perhaps not the way a professional would do it but Continue reading →

New exhibition – “People Of Islam”

Leave a reply

Poster-PeopleOfIslam_PhSh

 

Welcome to my new exhibition 

“People Of Islam”
Selected images from Iran, Iraq, Marrakech and Somaliland

April 3-6, 2015 – Easter – Every day 10-18 – after that by appointment only.

About the exhibition
People and milieus from Islam which the Western world is in constant conflict with.

I did fact-finding in Iraq 2002 and 2003 and already before the war, the Iraqis were hard hit by the inhuman sanctions.

Since 2012 I work every year in Iran with peace and photography. Somaliland I visited in 2014 (and 1977-81) – and the images from Marrakech, Morocco, are just two months old. The man above is Barber Lahcen in Marrakech and here are some thoughts on taking photos in that amazing city – with pictures.

It’s pictures of suffering but also of beauty and diversity. I want to show – and am happy to also talk about – the fact that there are many other images of this culture than the one you get in the mainstream Western media.

It’s my little contribution, as peace researcher and photographer – to building bridges. Because we simply must!

Practical info
1. Takes place parallel to “Konstrundan” but I am not a member of it. Open April 3-6 all days 10-18.
2. If you have not visited me before: The exhibition is in my studio, a modest space, and there will be about 40 images in formats from A3+ to A1.
3. If you can’t make it April 3-6 you can set up an appointment any time on:
obergphotographics@gmail.com or +46 738 525200.
4. And if you are far from Sweden: most of the images will soon be on my photo homepage (see below).

Hope very much to welcome you soon !

Jan Oberg

 

My 2012 PhotoGraphic Vernissage

Leave a reply

I invite you to see some 70 selected works produced during 2012.

If you want to skip my thoughts and go straight to the images, click here:
Meditations • Mirrors • Collage • Abstracts & Patterns • Burundi Beauties • Iraq Before The War • Japan • Burundi • Places • Street Photography • Portraits • Uniques & Experimentals • Digital Photo Drawings and Convertibles • Lund-Sweden

My photographic work is diverse. At this point in my explorations and experiments, I do not aim at developing a particular style or technique. And – perhaps surprisingly to some – there are now no less than 14 categories in my portfolio and there will likely be more in the future.

I am rather much of an intuitive photographer – remember I do photography as a balancing contrast to my academic, analytical and quite political work as a peace studies professor and on-the-ground conflict analyzer/mediator. I’ve never taken even a small course in anything photographic. In addition, I work under circumstances where I cannot always spend hours and hours on shooting the perfect image (can anyone tell me what that is, anyway?)

 

Cypatternedbw_cp

Cynthia, Burundi 2012 © Jan Oberg 2012

Continue reading →