A meeting with Jonas Carlsen
SKOG Intern Jeanne Dos Santos meets with artist Jonas Carlsen before the exibihtion at Oslo Negativ.
When I met Jonas Carlsen, it was clear right away that we weren’t going to have a traditional interview. Carlsen unfolded his practice like one of his carefully composed images: layer by layer, detail by detail. He began talking about how he works and what he’s searching for through his art.
What followed was a quick dive into his way of seeing the world.
Jonas Carlsen
At the heart of his work lies a fascination with what happens on the inside — inside humans and inside mechanical or industrial structures. He is drawn to processes we don’t usually see or even think about: the vulnerability of humanity, the relentless drive of technology, and the way organic and synthetic worlds constantly intertwine. Through his photographs, he tries to make these hidden forces visible while asking big questions:
¨Are we digging ourselves deeper? Why can’t we stop reaching for more — taller, stronger, bigger, “better”? Where is humanity headed?¨
It’s about capturing human vulnerability, but also the vulnerability of the machines we create. He is fascinated by how humans and technology are becoming more and more entangled, and he tries to highlight the traces we leave everywhere. “Don’t take things for granted,” he told me — a phrase that seems to sum up much of his artistic philosophy.
Jonas Carlsen
The way he works reflects this mindset. His process is slow, careful, and preceise. He spends a lot of time compositioning his images. He often uses a large-format 4x5 camera, which demands patience and precision. Other times he turns to the digital camera, which is more accessible and practical, and allows him to experiment. After shooting, he edits his images thoughtfully — adjusting light, perspective, and small details to create a certain tension between the natural and the unnatural. Carlsen tries not to erase traces of humanity, but to reveal them more clearly. “The natural that appears unnatural,” he said.
Throughout our conversation, he returned again and again to the meeting point of nature and technology. He tells us, ¨Humans always have a finger in the game.” His photographs remind us of that fact — that we are shaping and reshaping the world around us, sometimes without noticing, sometimes without asking where it will lead us.
I walked away from our meeting with the sense that his work isn’t just about the images, but about awareness. It’s about slowing down, looking closer, and noticing the fragile balance between humanity and the machines we rely on. His photographs ask us to pause and reflect — on where we are, and where we might be going.
Jonas Carlsen