Monica Takvam

About

The exhibition shows four series of portraiture collections by Norwegian artist Monica Takvam. Her photographic work explores social questions around individuality, mentality, perception and how we see ourselves. Through an honest representation, Takvam's seemingly simplistic portraits evoke discrete revelations from her subjects. Applying a modest and neutral visual style in the photographic portrait, Takvam does not merely observe, but also engages both the sitter and the viewer. With the major body of work ‘Janteloven — Small Town Mentality', the negative side of small town communities, environments of suppression and discouragement are explored through a series of compelling portraits. Each of them accompanied with excerpts from the Law of Jante as their title, challenging the notion of environments where uniqueness is a sin and standing out from the crowd is a disgrace. Based on an idea from a novel set in rural Scandinavia, Monica Takvam explores how the concept of this restraint of individual encouragement is transferable to communities all over the world. The project ‘See you, see me' is a collaboration with blind and visually impaired people, exploring how knowledge and perception is linked with each other. Takvam met people of different degrees of blindness, ranging from being able to see light and shadow to being totally blind their whole life and asked them all how they see themselves. Through using your senses, tactile portraits with Braille punctured into the actual photographs and the voices of the people portrayed, gives you a look into how vision and sight plays a role in perceiving yourself and others. When asked how they really feel, the subjects in ‘I'm fine, thanks' all put on a cheerful smile for the camera, contrasting their secret personal statements shown alongside the portraits. Neither the artist nor the audience knows which statement belongs to which portrait. On the private view, a live continuation of this project will take place, where people are invited to have their picture taken and submit a statement on how they really feel. The outcome of this will then become a part of the exhibition. Monica Takvam lives and works in London. Her work has been shown in group shows both in the UK and in Norway. This is her first UK solo show.