With an old Polaroid camera, I preserve memories and fleeting contemplations. I capture ordinary things and situations: the transient moments of daily life. My aim is to convey a sense of melancholy and loneliness.
I see the small figures as a representation of life and time: the little person in the vast world. We are only on this earth for a short time, and I find beauty in that vulnerability. The images are photographed using a special Polaroid film that was manufactured by accident. If left untouched, the Polaroid images degrade and eventually fade entirely to black. When I take a shot, the chemistry gradually darkens the film, shifting in a gradient from blue-green tones to yellowish-brown over approximately 24 hours until the photograph turns black. I must stop the degradation by physically destroying the Polaroid essentially separating the layers of the film and halting the chemical process inside. The final expression can be influenced, but it is never entirely within my control.
I freeze time with each image, as all photography does, but time continues moving and alters the frozen moment until the image fades to nothing—to black—a metaphor for death. The only way to halt time is through an act of destruction, another metaphor for death.Fade to Black has been exhibited in several galleries across Sweden. The images have also been published as a photo book.
About Martina Holmberg
Martina Holmberg is an independent photographer, born and based in Stockholm, Sweden. As a child, she often accompanied her father to the darkroom, where he developed black-and-white photographs. She loved stepping through the darkroom doors and inhaling the scent of the chemicals in the tanks, where images slowly emerged in the liquid. Perhaps it was there that her interest in photography began, even though she was unaware of it at the time. As both a writer and photographer, the different living conditions of women have been a recurring theme in her work for many years. She finds the same inspiration in creating a feeling or an inner state on a more subtle level. An incurable curiosity about human nature is the main reason she became a photographer and writer. She has traveled around the world for various aid organizations and personal projects, documenting different living conditions, often with a focus on women’s rights. She loves to challenge herself by exploring new forms of expression, constantly evolving in her craft. Over the years, she has published eight photography books, and her work has been exhibited, awarded, and published internationally. [Official Website]
