ANNIKA ELISABETH VON HAUSSWOLF
Annika Elisabeth von Hausswolff, It Takes a Long Time to Die, 2002, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, The Fine Art Collections, © , Annika von Hausswolff
Afterimage by Hilma Hedin:
The first image that came to mind was Annika Elisabeth von Hausswolff’s photograph: Det tar så lång tid att dö (It Takes So Long to Die). I was introduced to her work early in my career, right at the beginning when I started with photography. She had an exhibition recently at the Moderna Museet, and I got to see the photograph in person. I was just as moved by it as I was the first time I saw it.
What’s fascinating about it for me is how simple it is. This strange non-place, the gravel area she stands on. Her pants, worn at the knee as though she’s moved around a lot. Then the nice, clean sweater and her high heels – she looks good, also. And then she’s carrying this stone.
And the title – it’s so simple, almost banal, maybe even childish, but it speaks to a feeling I think everyone can relate to: the burden that living can be. There are so many relatable elements in the image, yet it’s so strange. Like the fact that she has her foot in a bucket and is carrying a stone – it almost becomes surreal.
The photograph balances between the familiar and the strange. I’m fascinated by how it’s clearly staged and arranged, yet I still read it as real. I believe in the image. Even though it’s obvious that I shouldn’t be able to, it still feels genuine. The image has influenced me in terms of how I want to create art. I also work with staging, and sometimes it works, while other times you just don’t believe it. That’s the beauty of this – you believe in it.
It feels as though she’s using her body to symbolize what it’s like to live. It’s a physical and overtly clear representation of the inner burden. She stands still with one foot in the bucket. She can’t move forward, it never ends. Perhaps that’s why it works so well as a photograph: it stops right there, it doesn’t give us before or after, just that moment. We just have to be in it. It goes on forever; we don’t see the end in this photograph. It’s cold around her, the gray, cold, dark surroundings, but it feels as though she’s protecting and guarding this stone. She carries it carefully, she holds onto it – it’s not something she’s ready to let go of.
Afterimage is an ekphrastic series about that one image you see when you close your eyes, the one still lingering in your mind. We invite artists and writers to reflect on an image they can't shake. This column has been a part of Objektiv since our very first issue, originally titled Sinnbilde in Norwegian. As the sea of images continues to swell, the series explores which visuals linger and take root in today's endless stream—much like a song that plays on repeat in your head. Whether it's an image glimpsed on a billboard, a portrait in a newspaper, a family photo from an album or an Instagram reel, we're interested in those fleeting moments that stay with you and refuse to let go.