Axel Lundgren & Johanna Schartau

Where? Tjörnedala art gallery
When? April 20-28
Vernissage? April 20 at 13-16
Opening and artist talk: April 20 at 2 p.m
Finale: April 28 at 2 pm with a conversation between the artists Axel Lundgren and Johanna Schartau and Thomas Millroth, Swedish art historian, critic, art curator and author

What is the center – and for whom? Eight Scanian photographers ask themselves that question in a series of exhibitions at Tjörnedala art gallery, Galleri Format, Kristianstad art gallery, Projektrum Hjärne during the spring.

The center can be defined as a center, but also described as a heart, a core or focal point. What constitutes the center differs, however – what appears to be an obvious center for someone, may be on the periphery for another. In a series of exhibitions, photographers Linnéa Cramer, Erich Hörtnagl, Axel Lundgren, Alice Millet, Anna Nordquist Andersson, Jens Nordström, Johanna Schartau and Henrik Wejfeldt explore the theme. Their work revolves around questions of norms, representation, equality, identity, exclusion, place, belonging, history and future. The exhibitions are the result of a longer project that has been run by the Center for Photography with support from Region Skåne.

At Tjörnedala art gallery, Axel Lundgren and Johanna Schartau show their works as part of the exhibition (Centrum).

Axel Lundgren – Archipelactica
Axel Lundgren is an urban planner and visual artist with a master's degree in landscape planning from the Swedish University of Agriculture. Through photography, sculpture and installation, he explores themes such as place identity and history.

Archipelactica examines how places function as the center of our inner narrative and how they in turn relate to the idea of a "we". The works are a synthesis, built on fragmentary moments and fantasies together with personal memories and historical observations from Axel Lundgren's home island of Saltö in the Karlskrona archipelago. The story moves freely beyond truth and untruth, beyond representation and reality, and beyond the specific location.

Johanna Schartau - Around me - where I live

Johanna Schartau is an artist and filmmaker with an MFA from Konstfack and studies at the Royal Academy of Arts. She works project-based, often around her own and our shared history with photography, sculpture, installation and film.

Around me – where I live….
Several years ago, Johanna Schartau began photographing the sheds with bullet holes at the Kabusa shooting range. The first time was during the great wave of refugees in the fall of 2015. She thought about the war in Syria, about refugee camps, about people who fled their homes. That's how the project Omkring mig began - where I live, but over time the meaning of places changes. We live on the periphery of wars that take place in Ukraine, in Israel, in Gaza... An echo is heard here. Far away but close.
At the exhibition, Johanna Schartau shows, among other things, a series of photopolymer etchings from military sites: Kabusa, Ravlunda and Peenemünde.

Finishing:
Land-skapa: a conversation about place, memory and identity with Thomas Millroth

What shapes our external and internal landscape? How do they relate to each other and how do they change over time? Meet the art historian, critic, art curator and writer Thomas Millroth in a conversation with the artists Johanna Schartau and Axel Lundgren.

The conversation, on April 28 at 2 p.m., is the finishing touch for the exhibition at Tjörnedala art gallery and is part of the project (Centrum) run by the Center for Photography.