PROJEKTRUM HJÄRNE, Helsingborg, Sweden
17 JUNE – 15 JULY 2022
In the exhibition the photographs were presented
mounted on white wooden boxes. By opening the boxes,
visitors could access the project’s additional material.
The material consists of:
— A series of 50 portrait photographs representing the
project’s 50 themes, each individual portrait illustrating
Jeanette’s response in relation to the specific theme.
— Jeanette’s personal reflections connected
to each theme / photograph.
— Statistics and quotations from the other 49
(anonymous) participating women, depicting their
thoughts and experiences in relation to each theme / photo.
With fundings from visionsfonden
50/50 is a long-term interdisciplinary art project exploring the lived experiences of women around the age of fifty. Combining photography, research, storytelling and social inquiry, the project examines identity, ageing, health, relationships, work, dreams, fears and the countless ways in which women navigate this pivotal stage of life. The project also investigates the relationship between women and the city as a shared “third space” – the public and communal environments in which everyday life unfolds. It asks how, over the course of nearly fifty years, we participate in these shared spaces, how we inhabit and co-create them through the accumulation of everyday lives, and how, in turn, the city shapes our identities, experiences and sense of belonging. The city is understood not merely as a physical setting, but as a living social landscape continuously formed by those who move through it, contribute to it and call it home.
At the heart of the project are 50 women, all around the age of fifty and living in Helsingborg, Sweden, who each contributed by answering an extensive questionnaire comprising 236 questions. Together, their responses form a unique body of material that reveals both individual experiences and shared patterns across a generation of women.
The visual narrative centres on 50 self-portraits of the artist. Each photograph represents one of the exhibition’s fifty themes and was created at a carefully selected location across Helsingborg, where the site itself contributes an additional layer of meaning to the theme being explored. The locations were chosen not simply as settings, but as places that reflect the artists’ long-term relationship with the city. The streets she has walked, the neighbourhoods she has inhabited, the workplaces, cultural venues and landscapes that have formed part of her everyday life for decades. The photographs illustrate how urban space becomes both a shared social landscape and a deeply personal lived experience.
The project was first presented as the exhibition 50/50 at Projektrum Hjärne in Helsingborg. Visitors encountered the interplay between the participants’ anonymous voices, the thematic self-portraits and the symbolic significance of each location, creating a layered reflection on ageing, gender, belonging, place and contemporary society.
PRESS:
-Article/Interview in Swedish about the exhibition here.
Link:
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