Tonje Bøe Birkeland

Tonje Bøe Birkeland constructs characters through photography, text and objects. Her female figures balance on the border between fiction and reality, founded in the historical past and simultaneously extended self-portraits.

One character is Tuva Tengel (1901-1985). Between 1927 and 1937 she travelled in the Gobi desert. The nomad’s pride has been a conserving force for this landscape.

The timeless landscapes work as a stage. It is entered with a set of roles acted through the making of photographs: character, creator, camera and their common act of travel.

Through the methods of photography with geographical and temporal distance, our contemporary society is put in perspective. The photographs show gaps and parallels in the friction between past and present, one society and another, a human being and a character from the past.

www.tonjebirkeland.com

Documentation photo: Migle Narbutaite.