HIGH LAND
For the love affair with eternity
We take avalanche risks
We take avalanche risks
"High Land" is a multidisciplinary project exploring the relationship between Human and Mountain, a transformation of a human in the highlands, wonder, freedom and eternity. What is it there in the Highlands that keeps calling men since ancient times? How can one tell a story of reverence and put in motion ancient awe, knowledge and understanding of power, mystery, and the sublime of the mountain? In the course of multiple expeditions, I tap into the mountains’ primal energies and listen to the land: does the mountain speak as a father, a sister, a friend, a lover, or all of the above and more? Discovered and invented mountain rituals, landscape encounters and my personal experience as a mountain walker lay base for series of photographs, performance pieces, videos, gestures, collages, drawings, sound works, and installations.
"The Mountain soul is always blue, so are their dreams"
HD video, loop; silent
“No one knows the mountain completely who has not slept on it. As one slips over into sleep, the mind grows limpid; the body melts; perception alone remains. One neither thinks, nor desires, nor remembers, but dwells in the pure intimacy with the tangible world” [Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain]
Sharing a sleep or sleeping in the presence of the Other is the event of trust. Sleeping on the mountain as the way to open and surrender to the enveloping sublime of the mountain, its roughness and its tenderness. The sleep in the higher places is a sleep in a proximity to the sky and, as some monks believe, in proximity to the gods and eternity.
HD video, loop; silent
“No one knows the mountain completely who has not slept on it. As one slips over into sleep, the mind grows limpid; the body melts; perception alone remains. One neither thinks, nor desires, nor remembers, but dwells in the pure intimacy with the tangible world” [Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain]
Sharing a sleep or sleeping in the presence of the Other is the event of trust. Sleeping on the mountain as the way to open and surrender to the enveloping sublime of the mountain, its roughness and its tenderness. The sleep in the higher places is a sleep in a proximity to the sky and, as some monks believe, in proximity to the gods and eternity.
"High Land Touch Map"
- a rubbing in 9 parts, made during wandering and climbing in Sarek and Stora Sjöfallet, graphite on rice paper, 2.1x3 m;
- photo documentation of the sights;
- HD video, 15', silent.
A trance-like act of caressing the mountain with hand and pencil. The mountain’s body is to be documented by touch and taken-with to the lower lands.
- a rubbing in 9 parts, made during wandering and climbing in Sarek and Stora Sjöfallet, graphite on rice paper, 2.1x3 m;
- photo documentation of the sights;
- HD video, 15', silent.
A trance-like act of caressing the mountain with hand and pencil. The mountain’s body is to be documented by touch and taken-with to the lower lands.
photo documentation
rubbings, 9 high land touch maps of Sarek and Stora Sjöfallet
video still, touching the mountain
Mountain rituals
The mountain lets me see her breasts and I let her see mine / Mountain rituals
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Placing one's body under the stone's body / Mountain rituals
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"If the mountain was a person I would frenchkiss it" - note in the notebook
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The Call of The Mountain / East Iceland Highlands, Kverkfjöll
print, up to 3x3 m |
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"The Call of The Mountain Star"
the images are sculpted from numerous pictures of the portrayed landscape, taken within the continuity of the mountain walk |
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The Call of The Mountain Star / Tarfala
glacier water form the pictured landscape |
use arrows and play/pause buttons to navigate
/ see more The Call of The Mountain Star pieces here /
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installation view, Uppsala Konstnärsklubb
The Call of The Mountain, Kverkfjöll, East Iceland Highlands; volcanic stone from the pictured landscape Landface/Askja; Landface/East Iceland Highlands; Landface/Torchmörk |
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"Landface" — a series of self/land-portraits, exploration of the intimacy with landscape and being a part of something greater. The face is covered by masks, made from elements of the surrounding landscapes. Through the mask-ritual a body becomes a listening body; through blocking the eyesight other senses grow acute. A trusting, intuitive body enters the mystery of the land, breathing in unison, inheriting the wisdom of the mountain’s body.
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use arrows and play / pause buttons to navigate
/ find more Landface photographs here /
"Offering to the White Mountain"
HD video, silent, 2’22”
Performance for the camera, referring to the nomadic herders’ tradition of offering “white food” (dairy products) to the spirit of the Mountain as a symbol of their reverence. Every morning a female member of the family (usually the herder’s wife) tosses an offering of milk in five directions: upward to the sky and in the four directions of the compass, the four directions of the wind. On this video, the artist sprinkles the milk at the site of Mont Blanc – the White Mountain. The act of “disembedding” a ritual from a particular area and culture and “embedding” it into a new context articulates the universal value of the respect for nature.
HD video, silent, 2’22”
Performance for the camera, referring to the nomadic herders’ tradition of offering “white food” (dairy products) to the spirit of the Mountain as a symbol of their reverence. Every morning a female member of the family (usually the herder’s wife) tosses an offering of milk in five directions: upward to the sky and in the four directions of the compass, the four directions of the wind. On this video, the artist sprinkles the milk at the site of Mont Blanc – the White Mountain. The act of “disembedding” a ritual from a particular area and culture and “embedding” it into a new context articulates the universal value of the respect for nature.
"Go Clear"
HD video, silent, 4’44”
Performance for the camera, referring to the belief that only pure people (with good intention and spirit) are allowed to walk the mountain, as the mountains in many cultures are believed to be sacred. The performed ceremony is a “purification” ritual: burning white envelopes near the mountain and glacier stream on the evening before a demanding mountain ascent.
HD video, silent, 4’44”
Performance for the camera, referring to the belief that only pure people (with good intention and spirit) are allowed to walk the mountain, as the mountains in many cultures are believed to be sacred. The performed ceremony is a “purification” ritual: burning white envelopes near the mountain and glacier stream on the evening before a demanding mountain ascent.
"Rock Music"
"Rock Music" is a series of three photographs, accompanied by a sound piece: subtle sounds recorded in the mountains during trekking in the Alps: white noise, wind swirls, mountain streams, echoes of cow-bells and singing animals. French Rock. Swiss Rock. Italian Rock. Three countries, one quiescent symphony.
"The Journey Through The Borders"
a book with 6 photographs, picturing a circuit journey of a stone, crossing borders of three countries.
a book with 6 photographs, picturing a circuit journey of a stone, crossing borders of three countries.
To the mountain, my father
They tell: it has been three countries, three borders
Truly I tell you, there are no borders I've seen
Only sublime mountain and endless sky
Truly I tell you, there are no borders I've seen
Only sublime mountain and endless sky
High Land: to the wild air
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"High Land: to the wild air"
12-days-performance documentation. Mountains are the nearest to heaven, a meeting-place between the heavenly and the earthly, where human spirit is believed to undergo a great inner transformation. Every day during the multi-day trekking in the Alps the mountain walker-performer ties a blue ribbon around the head. The more days in the High Land - the richer the veil of the ribbons grows. The embodied wild air, this floating veil articulates the vicinity to the sky and to the transitional state humans reach in the heights. |
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Khamar-Daban / montage, circa 2010
Made from the photographs, taken by my father
during a solo mountain expedition in Siberia.
Made from the photographs, taken by my father
during a solo mountain expedition in Siberia.
Cairn, somewhere in French Apls
Cairn, somewhere in the Swedish Lapland, in the snow storm
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Cairns - an ongoing series of photographs of man-made stone-structures, encountered during numerous mountain walks and climbs. These “mountains on the mountains” mark the presence of human in the landscape.
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View from Kebnekaise top 19/09/2018
"But then you can say you have been to the highest point of Sweden"
photograph/text
"But then you can say you have been to the highest point of Sweden"
photograph/text
"Mistery / mastery"
Performed on the background of an active ski resort, facing the “clean” mountain. Refers to a practice of yamabushi - japanese mountain ascetic hermits, who view mountains as the place for isolation and contemplation. Practitioners engage in feats of endurance such as standing/sitting under cold mountain waterfalls or in snow as one of the ways to reach enlightenment. This piece on one hand is a meditation on the mountain serenity and on the other hand is a reflection on the lost wilderness of the mountains, worship replaced by entertainment, silence replaced by bustle, mystery replaced by mastery.
Performed on the background of an active ski resort, facing the “clean” mountain. Refers to a practice of yamabushi - japanese mountain ascetic hermits, who view mountains as the place for isolation and contemplation. Practitioners engage in feats of endurance such as standing/sitting under cold mountain waterfalls or in snow as one of the ways to reach enlightenment. This piece on one hand is a meditation on the mountain serenity and on the other hand is a reflection on the lost wilderness of the mountains, worship replaced by entertainment, silence replaced by bustle, mystery replaced by mastery.
