Blowing

This photo roll is one of my first double exposures. The first layer of images was taken in Uganda’s Teso region. I was there as a volunteer, helping a local NGO to create documentation of their work. One afternoon, I was sitting in the garden where I was staying with a local family. A group of children were running around playing, and I gave them some balloons. The children were thrilled, and I was allowed to photograph them as they blew up the balloons and played with them. A few weeks later, back home in Denmark, I loaded the same film roll in my camera. It was winter, and I took a walk along Roskilde Fjord. The ground, trees, and bushes were covered in snow and ice. As often happens after returning from a journey, it was hard to let go of the impressions. Memories, in the form of images from Uganda, kept surfacing and blending with the Danish winter landscape, despite the stark contrast between the two places. Intuitively, it felt completely natural to photograph the Danish winter landscape over the images from the garden in Uganda. For brief moments, it was as if I were present in both places at the same time.

Denne filmrulle er en af mine første dobbelteksponeringer. Det første lag af billeder blev taget i Ugandas Teso region. Jeg var afsted som frivillig og skulle hjælpe en lokal NGO med at udarbejde dokumenterende materiale af deres arbejde. En eftermiddag sad jeg i haven, hvor jeg boede hos en lokal familie. Der var en gruppe børn, der løb rundt og legede, og jeg gav dem nogle balloner. Børnenes begejstring for ballonerne var stor, og jeg fik lov at fotografere dem, mens de pustede ballonerne op og legede med dem. Nogle uger senere hjemme i Danmark satte jeg filmrullen i kameraet igen. Det var vinter, og jeg gik en tur langs Roskilde Fjord. Jorden, træerne og buskene var dækket til med sne og is. Som det så ofte sker, når man kommer hjem fra en rejse, har man svært ved at slippe indtrykkene. Minder i form af billeder fra Uganda dukkede ustandseligt op og blandede sig med vinterlandskabet i Danmark, også på trods af den store kontrast mellem de to steder. Intuitivt virkede det helt naturligt at fotografere det danske vinterlandskab ovenpå billederne fra haven i Uganda. Momentvis var det som om, jeg var begge steder på samme tid.