HappenArt

Elizabeth Ohlson
Photographer
Location: Sweden

Elisabeth Ohlson was born in 1961 and started working as a press photographer in 1980. Her artistic breakthrough came with the photo exhibition Ecce Homo in 1998. It showed Jesus in the company of LGBTQ people and evoked very strong emotions.

Ecce Homo.

The opening took place in Uppsala Cathedral, leading to bomb threats and the pope canceling a scheduled audience for then Swedish Archbishop KG Hammar. Ecce Homo toured Sweden and Europe for two years. In many places there were riots, demonstrations and death threats.

In her work as an artist, Elisabeth generally works with a documentary tradition at heart. Then the fiction is added to the images. The models are meticulously directed and arranged to get the message across. Elisabeth’s great source of inspiration can be found in the ancient biblical paintings of Caravaggio and Artemesia Gentileschis. These Baroque masters inspired the 2007 exhibition In Hate We Trust.

Injustice.

Making injustice visible and when something goes wrong for the individual is like a common thread running through Ohlson’s images. In 2010 she went to Jerusalem and created 15 images showing the love of LGBTQ people in the city of Jerusalem. The exhibit was first shown at the World Culture Museum in Gothenburg, but only after museum management removed a photo showing three gay Muslims praying. The Museum of World Cultures feared a terrorist attack and put all visitors through a security check.

King Carl-Gustaf.

Another much talked about work by Elisabeth Ohlson came in 2012 and shows King Carl-Gustaf with his male friends eating pizza on Camilla Henemark’s naked body. Next door, a scrubbing Queen Silvia tries to pull a swastika off the floor. The Queen informed several newspapers which published the photo. There has been a great debate about the scope of satire. After this uproar, Elisabeth publishes a documentary photo book on Sweden.

Elisabeth also works with commercial and editorial photography. She specializes in taking strong portraits and has assignments for book publishers, newspapers, companies and organisations.