VISIT KOPPARBERG
(2015) PHOTOGRAPHY
A mockumentary photo-essay about an average Swedish family who left their hometown to obtain some new mainstream personality.
Sometimesbladet: «These archive photos of the Johanson family were found in the basement of the abandoned house in Kopparberg, Central Sweden, between Oslo and Stockholm. This city arose nearby the copper mine, used to be prosperous, and went into decline after the mines closing. You cannot find a job here except at the brewery. Buses with Syrian refugees come here, but people are afraid to go out because of the highest percentage of the right-wing electorate inhabiting this area. Locals leave this place abandoning their houses. But in a half a year the houses are invaded and robbed. So as not to leave this depressed area in total degradation the government came up with Operahouse building. It can be proud of the best performances, but the public comes in full evening wear, prefer to stay overnight in a first-class compartment train rather than in the hotel on-the-spot.
We can only guess using very random and fragmented evidence about the destiny of brother and sister Johanson who have left this place in an unknown direction some times ago». There is no word of fiction, but you hardly can witness written by visiting the mentioned place. The creators of the "Unpromised Land" documentary faced a similar dilemma. But if you do not leave your own house the most touching narratives of someone's personal story becomes available. In fact – the set of culturale and historical stereotypes randomly attached to an accidental place on the map. The place starts to be identified ideologically.
