Almost Imperceptible (Nesten umerkelig)
Marius Eriksen
Most of what surrounds us asks little of us. We walk the same roads, see the same buildings, pass the same surfaces. The familiar recedes into the background, something we rarely stop to notice.
Yet a place can suddenly seem different. Not because anything of importance has happened, but because the gaze lingers a little longer than usual. It is hard to say what has changed. Perhaps time has left a new mark. Perhaps the light falls differently. Perhaps it is only the way we look that has changed.
“Nesten umerkelig” Marius Eriksen. Photo credit: marius-eriksen.com
Almost Imperceptible grows out of such moments. The photographs do not chase the extraordinary; they turn back to the everyday — not to explain it, but to stay with it. They insist on no single reading, and leave room for different ways of meeting them.
Perhaps it is only when we stop that we notice how much has already been in motion.
As part of the exhibition, a text is also presented in dialogue with the photographs. It does not follow them as an explanation, but opens another way of reading them.
“Nesten umerkelig” Marius Eriksen. Photo credit: marius-eriksen.com
It Is Said That One Should Beware of the Shameless (Det sies at man skal passe seg for de skamløse)
Ida Siebke
Shame is a many-sided phenomenon. Most of us can use the feeling of shame as an inner compass, something to steer by so we avoid missteps in social situations and fit into the world around us. This kind of shame is useful; it is not the shame I want to talk about here.
I want to talk about the painful shame you should never have had to carry.
The shame that belongs to the perpetrator. The shame that so often comes along for the ride when you have already been hurt more than enough. That shame.
Ida Siebke. Photo credit: idasiebkeglass.com
It is said that one should beware of the shameless.
But imagine the relief of not having to feel shame over the time you were raped.
Of not having to feel shame over falling asleep next to your boyfriend while drunk, so that he was forced to have sex with you while you were unconscious just to get some.
Of not having to feel shame over being a person who put up with being hit. Because why didn't you just leave? Who puts up with that?
Of not having to feel shame over being in a manipulative relationship. Over letting yourself be manipulated.
Of not having to feel shame over being the weak one who can't leave the person who hits you. Who mocks you. Who sows doubt about everything you thought you were.
Of not having to feel shame over going out on the town in that short dress. No wonder, then, that he helped himself, even though you didn't want it..
It is important to distinguish between guilt and shame. Where guilt tells us that we have done something wrong, shame tells us that we are wrong.
It is said that one should beware of the shameless.
But imagine the relief of being spared misplaced shame. The shame that was never really yours.
Photo credit: idasiebkeglass.com