This is Farewell
This is Farewell is an autobiographical story which aims to explore the indeterminate borderland between fictive and documentary photography. By returning to his birthplace, Gustafsson is examining the relationship between parent and child, and how our origin and heritage shape the process of coming into being. The camera is not only directed against the subject, but also against the photographer himself. The photograph becomes an evidence of existence and employs a familiar way of preserving and remembering family members.
The images mainly reflect Gustafsson’s perspective on these relationships, but the rediscovered video tapes also add the parental gaze on the child. It is the personal life that is depicted and the question is where the secret, the private, begins and where it ends?
While working on the project, and around questions concerning heritage and origin, I realized that this was also a way to reconcile with my scandinavian photographic heritage. My photographs show clear traces of references such as Anna Clarén, JH Engström, Katinka Goldberg and Anders Petersen. To them it has also been important to return to areas such as home, family and other close relationships that contribute towards forming and defining the self.
