Christer Björkman

"See me!"

Is a project with pictures of sandboxes. More precisely, boxes with lids, usually made of plastic, with sand in them that are used to prevent slipping. The project is about seeing what we would rather not see. Or try to avoid seeing. Sandboxes are a necessary evil but few people think they are beautiful. They are almost everywhere. We tend to stop seeing such things. The same applies to some people. Often those who are a bit on the fringes of society. Like the homeless and the mentally ill. I have tried to take the pictures of sandboxes in a respectful way. Partly because I believe that all people should be met with respect. For a while I tried to photograph the homeless but it felt difficult to get images that captured their situation in a sufficiently respectful way. The choice fell on sandboxes. For me, they represent the homeless in some way. They are out in all weathers. They often look a little worn. The origin of the project was that my now deceased mother began to get worse. To deal with the anxiety I felt, I started photographing sandboxes. Photography became a kind of therapy for me. I think that the reason the project turned out the way it did is because my mother suffered from a psychological illness and that during a period of her life she devoted herself to helping the homeless. The project is in memory of my mother, you could say.