Artist
Io Sivertsen
Io Sivertsen is a photographer and filmmaker working between Norway and the Netherlands.
In her work she explores the boundary between truth and fiction. Using reality as a starting point, her image-making anchors the subject matter in her own personal perspective. Depicted themes include technology, internet culture, sexuality and identity. Alongside her practice she has initiated and developed short-films, exhibitions and a film festival. She is the co-founder of the independent film festival Cinema Underexposed - a The Hague based platform aimed for new voices and perspectives.
After graduating from The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, she is now attending the master program at the Norwegian Film Academy in Oslo. In 2020 she attended the Canon Student Development Programme at Visa Pour l’Image. Her work has been shown at Eye filmmuseum and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. San Mei Gallery in London, Grimstad short film festival in Norway, gallery CK13 in Serbia and cultural platform Page Not found in The Hague, among others. She has been published in Morgenbladet, Aftenposten and Zweikommasieben magazine.
Gazing at you
This is a collaborative piece of work, combining both photography and writing. By Marysia Świetlicka and Io Sivertsen.
In the beginning of lockdown last year, whilst working on separate graduation projects, finishing our photography BA in The Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, and while scrutinizing our visual language we turned the lens to look at one another. We wanted to touch each other, but couldn’t. The project became an exchange of uncomfortably intimate moments, voyeuristic glimpses and an exploration of the gaze. The images are taken in a moment of complete trust, a silent performance.
Let's Talk About The Weather
My father doesn’t believe climate change is caused by rising human emissions. But I do. This work encompasses my relationship with him, while simultaneously describing my relationship to weather. It is a satirical approach to a very serious issue, blurring the lines of personal experiences and facts. Because it is very difficult to believe something that is not visible yet, this is an intuitive exploration on how climate change manifests itself.
Neither a beginning nor an end. Or to examine an egg
When I was 15 my doctor told me that it would be difficult for me to have children. She said there was something wrong with my eggs. All I could think about then, was the chickens in my mom's garden. How they carefully covered their eggs, wanting that someday they would hatch. I usually had to stroke their feathers, to remove the egg from their shelter, to bring it back inside, to the frying pan.
The first objects we learn are domestic. Plate, cup, fruit and eggs. You learn their shape and colour, traits and qualities. Water is in the cup, and fruit is on the plate. But they can both break if you throw them on the floor. But the fruit will only bruise, while the egg shatters. As a woman you are often confronted with your own ability to reproduce. That the clock is ticking, eggs are disappearing and you are becoming obsolete. The duality of the meaning of objects is exhilarating, that an egg is both totally conventional, yet also exceptional.
I am trying to make you look closely at something, To examine an egg.
We selected five talents based on applications from seven of the Nordic countries and autonomies:
Io Sivertsen (b. 1994, Norway) graduated from The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and is attending the Masters programme at the Norwegian Film Academy in Oslo. In her work, she explores the boundary between truth and fiction. Using reality as a starting point, her image-making anchors the subject matter in her own personal perspective.
Depicted themes include climate change, internet culture and sexuality. Nanna Navntoft (b. 1988, based in Denmark) graduated in 2020 from the Danish School of Media and Journalism. As part of her education, she worked at the Danish newspaper Dagbladet Politiken before continuing her studies at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Her work deals with social topics and mental health, which she mainly explores through intimate portraiture.
Essi Maaria Orpana (b. 1988, based in Finland) studied a BA in Visual Arts from Turku University of Applied Science Art Academy as well as Fine Arts at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. In 2021, she will graduate with an MA in Photography at Aalto University, School of Arts. Characteristic to her practice is to perform for, or with, the camera. In this way her artistic approach is personal, flavored with an uncanny twist.
Hrafn Jónsson (Krummi) (b. 1990, based in Iceland) graduated from Ljósmyndaskólinn – The School of Photography, Reykjavik in 2021. Krummi was a teenager when he became disabled. Through his relationship with the photographic medium, he has come to see that whether he is able, less able, more able or disable, he is always, in some way, able. By adhering to the seemingly simple and straightforward medium most of us engage with every day, Krummi is able to push himself forward and engage with his environment.
Lars Dyrendom (b. 1981, based in Sweden) graduated in 2020 from The MFA programme in Photography, Valand Academy University of Gothenburg. His artistic practice revolves around photographic archives and collections. A returning theme in his works is how humans as groups behave and act in relation to their surroundings and environment.
Each of the talents’ works were showcased in tailormade pavilions during CPF in June 2021, designed and built by Bachelor students from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Royal Danish Academy, in dialogue with the five talents. A fruitful and challenging collaboration which sought to merge photography and architecture and play with the perspective.
Copenhagen Photo Festival was launched in 2010 and has become the largest Nordic festival of its kind with exhibitions spread all over galleries, museums and art institutions in Copenhagen and southern Sweden.