Anna Clarén (born 1972) is a Swedish photographer and educator. ''Holding'' (2006) won Best Photobook in the Swedish Photo Book Prize. She has had solo exhibitions at The House of Culture and

Fotografiska Fotografiska is a centre for contemporary photography in the Södermalm district of Stockholm, Sweden that was founded by brothers Jan and Per Broman and opened on 21 May 2010. In March 2021, it merged with NeueHouse and is operated by Yoram Roth ...

in Stockholm, and at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen in France. Clarén's work is held in the collection of Moderna Museet in Stockholm. She leads the (Nordic Photography School).

Early life and education

Clarén was born in 1972 in

Valje Valje () is a bimunicipal locality divided by Bromölla Municipality, Skåne County and Sölvesborg Municipality, Blekinge County in Sweden. It had 823 inhabitants in 2010. The small river ''Sissebäck'' makes up the border between the municipalit ...

, Sweden and grew up in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

, Scania. She studied

photojournalism Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

from 1994 to 1996 at , Sweden.

Life and work

Clarén worked as a photographer from 1997, including as a press photographer for ''

Aftonbladet ''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...

'' and '' Icakuriren'', and making work for magazines and books. She now leads the Nordens Folkhögskola Biskops-Arnö, where she has been a head teacher since 2006. ''Holding'' (2006) is a visual diary created over four months that "portrays the people and places in Clarén's immediate surroundings". It is included in Parr and Badger's ''The Photobook: A History, Volume III'', where it is described as containing "portraits, interiors, still lifes and landscapes — that together seem to make up a mysterious narrative. The style is diffuse and the images high key, washed-out in colour and frequently blue-tinged, which suggests they have only one foot in reality, and that the narrative is raking through old memories, or is a dream." With ''Close to Home'' (2013) Clarén "documented herself as pregnant, her children, and the people and surroundings close to her home." ''When Everything Changed'' (2018) was made from the point her third child was diagnosed with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

; "we then follow the family and glimpse the different ways they deal with the situation", from 2013 to 2017.

Publications

*''Holding''. Sweden: Journal, 2006. . *''Puppy Love''. Sweden: Journal, 2009. . *''Close to Home''. Stockholm: Max Ström, 2013. . *''När allt förändrades'' / ''When Everything Changed'' **''När allt förändrades''. Stockholm: Max Ström, 2018. . **''When Everything Changed''. Stockholm: Max Ström, 2018. .

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*''Holding'', Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, Caen, France, 2008/9 *''Holding'', The House of Culture, Stockholm, Sweden, 2008 *''When Everything Changed'',

, Stockholm, Sweden, 2018

Group exhibitions

*''A Way of Life: Swedish Photography from Christer Strömholm until Today'', Moderna Museet Malmö, Malmö, Sweden, 2014; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2014/15. With work by Christer Strömholm, Clarén,

Martin Bogren Martin Bogren (born 1967) is a Swedish documentary photographer, living in Malmö. He has made "understated books full of quietly observed moments shot in grainy black and white." Bogren has had solo exhibitions of ''Lowlands'' and ''Italia'' at ...

, JH Engström, Kenneth Gustavsson,

Gerry Johansson Gerry Johansson (born 1945) is a Swedish photographer who lives in Höganäs in southern Sweden. He makes "straight and pragmatic" photographs with "an objective view of a geographic location." His books include ''America,'' ''Sweden,'' ''Germany, ...

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, Anders Petersen,

Inta Ruka Inta Ruka (born 1958) is a Latvian photographer. Life and work Ruka was born in Riga. She married Egons Spuris, a Latvian photographer. Towards the end of the 1970s, she started her career in photography. In 2006, she worked on another photogra ...

Gunnar Smoliansky Gunnar Smoliansky (11 July 1933 – 12 December 2019) was a Swedish photographer. Biography In 1975, Smoliansky and others founded the Bildhuset Agency. In 1980, he won the ''Stora Fotographpriset'' from ''Photo A photograph (also known as ...

Lars Tunbjörk Lars Tunbjörk (15 February 1956 – 8 April 2015) was a Swedish photographer known for his "deadpan portraits of office spaces and suburban lifestyles". Background Tunbjörk was born in the Swedish town of Borås, a place which was a big influe ...

, and others.

Awards

*2006: ''Holding'' won Best Photobook in the from the

Collections

Clarén's work is held in the following public collection: * Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden: 12 prints (as of August 2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarén, Anna 21st-century Swedish photographers People from Lund Living people 1972 births 21st-century women photographers 21st-century Swedish women artists Swedish women photographers