Maria Hansen

Frida Jersø  

Through her project ‘Frida Forever’, young Danish photographer Frida Lisa Carstensen Jersø (b. 1997) explores the living state of being sick while being young. In 2012, the photographer went into an accident that broke her back and left her paralyzed. During her numerous stays in the hospital, Jersø photographed herself. Through intimate images, the artist documented a life of illness in contrast with the vibrant youthful life beyond the hospital walls. Jersø uses her visual apparatus to reveal deeply personal experiences of embracing the vulnerability of the body with a sharp gaze into her own body and the condition of being physically confined. The project thus grants the viewer  access to a world and a process that are otherwise hidden behind the hospital curtains. Jersø’s images unveil a state of transition from youth to adulthood in sharp duality of freedom and the limitations caused by diseases, leading the viewer to ruminating on the impermanence of “being healthy”. 

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Andreas Hopfgarten 

Andreas Hopfgarten (b. 1987) is a German visual artist and photographer based in Reykjavik, Iceland. Hopfgarten’s project „Where there is a will…“ sets its focus on the town of Espelkamp, once a World War II refugee camp and later transformed into a modern settlement for displaced populations in northern Germany. As our gaze is directed to enigmatic objects, spaces and situations in the images, we can almost picture the artist walking, seeing and encountering in his environment. „Where there is a will…“ offers a different perspective on the history of Germany through zooming in on the evolving story of town Espelkamp. With a research-based approach, Hopfgarten uses the medium of photography to provoke our thoughts on memory, identity, and the cultural forces that shape them.

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Marcus Gustafsson ‍

Marcus Gustafsson (b. 1990, Sweden) works primarily with analogue photography. In his deeply personal project ‘Filling in the Gaps’, the artist meditates on memory, family history and human connection. Here we see the photographer’s own photos intertwined with archival family photos with traces of manipulation of painting, taping and drawing that transform photographic processes into intimate acts of reclamation and sites of inquiry through seemingly naive gestures. This exchange being his own photos and the archival sends us a visual nonverbal journey where we instinctively try to fill the gap between the past and present, the child and the grown-up, trauma and reflection. We encounter an emotionally charged photography project on coming to terms with one’s own past, as we are confronted with the artist’s, and perhaps even our own, attempts to reconcile.

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Maria Høy Hansen ‍

Danish photographer Maria Høy Hansen’s (b. 1995) work often revolves around people who live on the periphery of the society, self-chosen or not. The project ‘Hidden Away’ captures daily lives of patients in ‘Centrul de plasament Bădiceni’, one of the remaining ‘temporary homes’ for people with disabilities in Moldova. Through strong visuals that portray the people and environment inside the institution, the project allows the viewer to access the psychological and physical conditions of the people in Bădiceni. Hansen’s images call for sympathies and bear witness to the agony of the community, along with its long endurance of violence, negligence and cruel living conditions.

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The festival’s program committee consists of the following members: 

Patricia Breinholm Bertram | Curator and Head of Communications at Martin Asbæk Gallery

Stinus Duch | Publisher and Founder of Disko Bay Books 

Søren Pagter | Head of Photo Journalism at the Danish School of Media and Journalism/DMJX

Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen | Managing Director of Copenhagen Photo Festival