Imagining Malmö

This is my study abroad to Malmö, Sweden! I'll be here from June 15th-July 17th, posting as I go. It'll have some school related items for assignments and personal posts as well, follow for updates!

[malmoljm]

Authenticity Revived

Since leaving Malmö, I’ve stayed in Boston for a night, stayed outside of Baltimore/DC for two nights, and then outside of Philadelphia a few nights before returning to Baltimore, where I am now. But my experience in Philadelphia really emphasized how much of the discussion in this class resonates with me, especially so shortly after the class. My friends and I met up to go to a music festival, a very packaged and postcard-esque type event. However, other circumstances led us to only stay for a couple hours at max, and barely doing anything there at all. So here we are, a two/three hour drive from the friend’s house we’re staying at, and looking at a long day ahead filled with absolutely nothing. 

The drive was long and boring, and none of us really wanted to leave just yet, as we didn’t want to title the day an entire wash. We looked up things to do in the area for free (as we’re all broke college students and already spent money on the festival tickets), and found a park nearby. 

We went first to the advertised attraction, tree house and a playground in the park. From the treehouse, we could see a river in a gorge and decided to venture down there and go on an adventure. The hiking was just as, if not more, strenuous as the walk to Nimis, mainly because it was raining and a majority of the (not beaten) path we were taking was moss-covered rock.

It was an amazing day. We climbed up and down the gorge, saw a beautiful view of the river, and watched as local kids jumped into the river from varying ledges and heights. Throughout all of it, I may have taken five pictures at most (four of them being my friend posing on a colorful turtle statue). Granted, it was rainy and slippery so pictures wouldn’t have been the safest option anyway, but it really wasn’t an experience that pictures could document. 

And the entire time I was thinking about how in the moment we all were, how none of us were comparing this experience to what we’d been told (as none of us were native to the area and it wasn’t a big attraction), and how the day wasn’t at all what any of us expected. Malmö taught me a lot, which I can tell already that I will always hold close.

[thecityisee-blog-blog]

I can’t shake the feeling that my time in Malmö isn’t meant to be over just yet.. I’m not good at goodbyes.

[shelagoestosweden-blog]

my final for Imagining Malmo! A comic about Bus Route 3, aka the route we constantly took to school, and the one I saw the most of. I had the pleasure of drawing lots of the friends I had the pleasure of friending on this trip, and also my teachers as well. I’m never going to forget my time in Malmo, and I hope to print this off soon to keep a physical copy.

[malmoljm]

Reminded before 8am how awfully unpleasant absolutely everything about American airport security is

[im-in-sweden]

Shoutout 2 gabe

[malmoljm]

The freedom is coursing through my veins

[malmoljm]

Last view of Sweden and its all too surreal

[malmoljm]

Look Both Ways

I’m normally a cautious street crosser. Just because I lawfully have the right of way doesn’t mean someone flying down a quiet street will skid to a stop for me, even though they technically should. 

That’s why I find it so surprising how the drivers here are so very deferent to the pedestrians. I could turn a corner to see a cross walk, and if at that point a car kept going I could easily pass. Sometimes I slow down because in America that usually signals to the drivers that they can keep going, but no matter what, the drivers here will stop. Is it relative to what seems like a culture that is much more respectful of both others and the law than Americans are?

Then of course I feel bad and speed up to make up for their lost time.

[malmoljm]

Map Yesterday

[hej-ak-blog]

Louisiana

I didn’t really enjoy Louisiana. After discussing it in class, I realized even more reasons I disliked it besides what I previously thought. I didn’t spend much/enough time going through the gallery. I thought it was ll the factors leading up to it. I was late to the gallery and so had to immediately orient myself to the gallery while also finding the rest of the group on my own. I was sleep deprived so I though I couldn’t fully appreciate what I was seeing among other things. After hearing others opinions, especially Jean’s and Gabe’s, I started thinking it wasn’t all environmental reasons. Firstly, navigating the museum without the group was confusing. I didn’t know what they intended me to look at first or what to give attention to which I wasn’t used to at all with a museum. Then I came upon the Africa exhibit. Too. Much. Information. I couldn’t keep my attention long enough to even finish a paragraph! Set aside fatigue, and setting aside the fact that most of it wasn’t too interesting or valuable for anyone other than the gallery themselves, I couldn’t finish because all I could think was “There’s way more to read! Must move on so I can touch base with everything!” Not a conducive gallery arrangement. The representation wasn’t helpful to the artists or the viewers and when I thought about being the artist whose work was on display I thought I would be so happy and proud! Even though I didn’t like what they did with the African artists I still felt I would be happy because I would have been put in a prestigious gallery. Nothing else would matter, which I can imagine is how they were able to exploit those artists so well.  Additional note about class discussion: I don’t think it is such a crime that they grouped all African countries together. Obviously, they are all different and should never be thought of as the same, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be grouped just as all of the states are different, but are grouped. Not only just as the US but as regions. We will say “They’re from the south, they’re conservative.” That’s not always true! Missouri and Florida: two southern states grouped together, but are quite different. The grouping does not both me as the other things did. 

[malmoljm]

But there’s the fact that outsiders as a whole very constantly refer to Africa as on entity. An entire continent is negated to one identity because it’s something we don’t understand. Yes there are obviously generalizations made about everything, but there has always been a stigma about Africa and the idea that it is the same throughout. Americans for example have a certain persona and stereotype, but break it down to LA or NY, or even continue to break it down to states and a lot of people who aren’t from America will recognize many states or yes, even the “North is more liberal and South is conservative”, very very broad blanket statement. 

I totally admit, I can’t even say that about Africa. I don't even know enough to say anything about a region in Africa, only that Africa as a whole is a thing, and full of so many countries. But the issue for me is that Africa is always negated to a single entity to the point there people think Africa itself is the one and only country. This, paired with the whole “look at how much good we’re doing!”, colonialist impressions, and Euro-centric (not using the word I want but I can’t think of anything else, i.e., the video made by the actual African in the far far back corner) layout of the exhibit itself is what I think made the grouping much more offensive than it already is. 

(Also, with as much information as they felt the need to throw at you, they couldn’t retract some details and throw in a little more to notate the different cultures? Or it’s just easier to see Africa as a whole and “look how primitive they are”...)

[shelagoestosweden-blog]

preliminary first page for my mock-children’s book final project !

[abroadabroadandwhatnot-blog]

I find this to be an accurate depiction off Jean.

[malmoljm]

Louisiana

Louisiana. Visitors of all age and from all over come to this secluded gallery. It holds seven large wings and alterations. The “perfect” day trip.

You will never be able to see everything in this space. Admitting this to yourself frees you from the constraints of going from gallery to gallery, and lets you really see the details that a passerby would never think to see. The number of different perspectives is infinite. The arrival, the experience, the people.

What brings the people here?

Can the building itself be art? How does the building create art in itself, and seamlessly interact with the pieces inside of it? Can the building itself direct you to find new pathways and discoveries? Where can it take you? Are you following the path, or making your own?

/Lily, Thea, Ariel, Lovisa

[thecityisee-blog-blog]

Why I Do Not Photograph

(So I apparently saved this as a draft instead of posting it weeks ago? Forgive me, I’m an inexperienced blogger.)

Every time I go somewhere new my mom gets angry at me for returning with no pictures to show her. But I just cannot do it. I cannot fathom the idea of seeing my reality framed through a camera lens when the view is all around me. I don’t want to be constrained to a frame when life is happening 360. I’m afraid to miss out, and I’m not worried about not remembering because I know everyone else around me is taking pictures that will be up for the public to see at any time. I keep a journal with me of any interesting events that occur or thoughts that I have, and I feel so safe with it because it is tangible. I can touch it and keep it safe. But on the internet these pictures and words are out of my control. Who knows what could happen to them. I will write in my journal and I will sketch in my sketchbook, but I will not trust that the words I write and the pictures I see will always remain. And I believe that a sketch will show more emotion than any photograph on the internet. I will try to post sketches, but no promises - sometimes I am too excited and overwhelmed to sit down and draw.

‘Loss of the Creature’ touches on this idea. Talking about those who waive their “right of seeing and knowing” by instead documenting with their cameras, Percy writes  - “For him there is no present, there is only the past of what has been formulated and seen and the future of what has been formulated and not seen. The present is surrendered to the past and the future.”

If I learned anything in Croatia, it was how to be present. There were very few places with wifi, so it forced the group to really take in each place we visited, every detail of a place and the personal reactions and emotions we all felt. I never knew having no wifi could feel so good. It’s liberating, really. I was no longer hidden behind the small screen of my phone, but exposed to the enormous world surrounding me. This past experience has already shaped my experience in Malmö, because I will be rid of my phone and other technologies while viewing a land I have not yet seen. 

So this is why you will see no pictures of my own throughout this blog. I will and have blogged/reblogged the photos that others in my group have taken, in order to help others visualize what I may fail to put into words. I cannot deny that words often fail in the description of wonderful things, and I can promise you I will be seeing nothing less than wonderful in this beautiful country. I will depict my findings to the best of my ability.

[malmomalmomalmo-blog]

This is great, I love this so much (especially as a photography student). There is this idea in photography of everything that you photograph being dead. Essentially every time you take an image, every time the shutter clicks, you’re killing a moment by creating this version of it that will literally never be able to exist again. It’s kind of heady, but something that I’ve really taken to heart in my studies.

Photographing something is a very traumatic action, and not many people are aware of that.

[malmoljm]

I realized how much I felt this too while I was in Paris, the Louvre to be specific. I did take some pictures, yes, but a large majority of it I couldn’t bear to bring out my phone, as I’d spend the entire time snapping a shot, and moving on to the next, frantically trying to document everything. I did something very similar to that in Moderna Museet, and promised myself I’d go into the Louvre differently. 

By taking photographs, you try so hard to show others what you are seeing. But they will never see it, as they are neither you nor exactly where you are standing and seeing. Pictures can only express so much, and they will never be as good as reality. That’s why I rarely bring my actual camera anywhere, otherwise I’d be so focused on adjusting every single thing so that the picture comes out “perfect” (even though there is no such thing). 

Living in the moment is so much harder than we think it is.

[malmoljm]

Paris

Poses/crowd seen at the Eiffel Tower, Sphinx, (I actually don’t remember what this was), Venus de Milo, and of course, the Mona Lisa. Everywhere I go now, I’m seeing who’s looking for their own experience, or following the predetermined path.

[malmoljm]

Paris

Wow look at all these postcards. 

Though I will say seeing and going up the Eiffel tower at night was astounding and much more of a real experience than just going by some things, snapping pictures, and moving on.

[malmoljm]

Paris

Cool sunset views, art, and of course the food. Though I will say I couldn’t try the escargot because my imagined consistency freaks me out. And of course I had to have creme brûlée in France...

[malmoljm]

Map Progress

Got back from Paris earlier today, spent some time relaxing then started to lay out my map ideas. Hours later I have three Word documents, an Excel spreadsheet, and eight pages with ideas, lists, etc. written on them taped onto my wall behind my desk.

I’m totally not struggling to keep my eyes open right now. So excited to sleep in tomorrow. Paris photo dump and probably writing about things I’ve noticed, along with pushing forward on the map tomorrow. Easy/relaxing day and I can’t wait.

Also incredibly glad to be back in Malmö, realized how much I think of this place as home now.