Neverlands
Thirty years ago, before I began the study of Zen, I said, ‘Mountains are mountains, waters are waters.’
After I got insight into the truth of Zen through the instructions of a good master, I said, ‘Mountains are not mountains, waters are not waters.’
But now, having attained the abode of final rest, (that is, Awakening) I say, ‘Mountains are really mountains, waters are really waters.’
Ch’ing yuan Wei-hsin
A woman with a distant gaze is the main character in Annika Thörn Legzdins early images. Most often she is in her home, alone, frozen in the middle of some everyday activity, but eventually she finds her way outside. In the photograph “Untitled” she is standing in an anonymous suburb with her back towards us. She seems cut off, unfamiliar with the place, but maybe now she sees the world around her for the first time? Later her gaze melts together with what she sees and in “Neverlands” she has been overpowered by her surroundings and become part of the landscape rushing by.
There is a change in the artist’s perception over these ten years, from slight aversion to a commencing appetite, nature seems more and more magnificent. However, her way of looking at the world remains essentially neutral and one gets the impression that the beauty in her later photos does not come from esthetic decisions, but from the fact that reality happened to be beautiful when the picture was taken.
Johan Hedbäck, artist, 2009
En kvinna med fjärrskådande blick är huvudrollsinnehavare i Annika Thörn Legzdins tidiga bilder. Oftast befinner hon sig i hemmet, ensam, stelnad i vardagliga sysslor, men så småningom tar hon sig ut. I bilden “Utan titel” ser vi henne stående i en anonym förort med ryggen vänd mot betraktaren. Hon verkar avskärmad, främmande för platsen, men kanske ser hon nu för första gången omvärlden? Senare smälter hennes blick samman med det hon ser och i “Neverlands” har hon övermannats av omgivningen och blivit en del av det förbirusande landskapet.
Man kan se en skiftning i konstnärens seende genom dessa tio år, från lätt avsmak till begynnande aptit, naturen tycks allt mer magnifik. Blicken förblir dock i grunden neutral och man får ett intryck av att den skönhet som finns i de senare fotografierna inte kommer ur estetiska val, utan av att verkligheten råkat vara vacker på den plats där bilden togs.
Johan Hedbäck, konstnär 2009