Back in 2011, during a workshop in Fez, the evocative city that lies at the foot of the Atlas mountains in Morocco, Anders Petersen remarked: “As photographers, you have to sharpen your pyramid.” His comment was met by a room of half-perplexed, half-intrigued faces. But, pausing to wonder, everyone sort of knew what he meant.
The preeminent Swedish photographer was discussing his approach to photography and life. He was extolling the importance of leaving your comfort zone, pushing yourself and taking risks in order to reach an apex – enjoying encounters with people, being true to yourself, getting closer and going further.
Having released more than 30 photobooks, his latest, simply titled Anders Petersen and published by Max Strom, traces a career spanning some 40 years. In that time, he has honed his own brand of symbolic, literary photography, defined by a faux-naive approach. From his seminal Café Lemitz, a vivid and unflinching portrayal of those on the margins of society, to his more recent Soho series, a commission for The Photographers’ Gallery, London, the black and white photographs contained in this delicious monograph are coloured with emotion, experience and a distinct sensitivity towards his subjects.
Coining the term ‘private documentary photography’ to describe the movement he is part of, Petersen produces extremely subjective imagery in the diaristic mode. It’s an approach that foregrounds closeness and interaction, facilitated, in part, by his use of a simple point-and-shoot camera – a discreet Contax T3 with a 35mm lens that allows him to get a close up, and more crucially, humanistic vision. As such, it is photography that is not about photography but rather obsession and longing – for companionship, friends and communication. For Petersen, photography is a way of saying ‘yes’ to the world.
Beyond documentation, what this book adds up to is a raw and hypnotic self-portrait that says as much about the photographer as the people being photographed. It is a future memory to Anders Petersen – a singular family of photographers, the light at the top of the pyramid.
Anders Petersen is published by Max Strom. For more information or to order a copy visit maxstrom.se
