shashasha

“Souvenir” is a series of yearly photobooks published by luxury ski resort St. Moritz in Switzerland, launched in 2019. The first artist invited to the format was Norwegian photographer Torbjørn Rødland.

Familiar with the cold air, the mountains, the fir and the slow thaw as a Norwegian but “less familiar with the imposing hotels”, Rødland spent two weeks in the mountain resort capturing views – some straight-forward, others more playful – of the town, its visitors and inhabitants. In balanced, warm colors, Rødland’s posed and impromptu portraits beam with familiarity and close distance, with occasional humour keeping the book’s mood light yet earnest.

“As a photographer I imagine light accentuating textures; light leaking around corners and curves in various pictorial spaces. Nothing is fully transparent. Largely solid, backlit bodies sit on improvised stages. There’s a funny drawing in there somewhere, under layers of verisimilitude, reservedness and trauma. We grow up, we evolve. Touch me and ask how I’m holding up.” – from Torbjørn Rødland’s foreword