In her book 26.01.18 photographic artist Louise Bøgelund Saugmann investigates breathing with the trees.
As an astmatic child she was confined to her bed for days unable to breathe properly. Ever since, Bøgelund Saugmann has had an urge to create photographic spaces, where there is room to breathe – both concretely and in a metaphorical sense. In her search for a place to be at peace and to fully breathe, she started regularly visiting the same forest in the Copenhagen outskirts (Pinseskoven). It is said that Pinseskoven once upon a time planted itself from seeds that flew from across the water in Sweden. Today the mythical forest is protected, as it contains and sustains animal and plant life not seen anywhere else in Denmark.
Bøgelund Saugmann continued to visit the forest for the next six years, and with every visit she would make 12 photographs of the same scene with trees, sitting in the same position on a rock with her medium format camera. She would then use the analogue photographic process of layering one image upon another as her method for collecting the passage of time, imagining that each individual, layered photographic piece was a breath from the forest.
Bøgelund Saugmann has spent countless hours on her rock in the forest as well as in her workspace scanning and layering the photographs. In the world we live in today, when everything often goes very fast, 26.01.18 offers a welcomed respite for you to slow down and breathe with the trees.
26.01.18 shows one of many days spent in the forest. Including all the layers, it contains 144 photographs. It is the first of two books that together complete Bøgelund Saugmann’s project 55˚35’12.8”N 12˚32’56.2”E (Quiet by nature). The second part is to be published later this year and will complement 26.01.18. Together they form a complete unit.
Specifications: Blankt Papir Press ・ 2022 ・ Leporello ・ Come in boxes that are mixed and matched by the artist and publisher to make every single one similar, but unique - just like a tree in a forest. / Handmade in an edition of 72 pages ・ English ・
