Sølve Sundsbø talks male models, memories and how it feels to do his first big exhibition in his hometown
Sølve Sundsbø is a defiantly modern photographer, creating images that are strange, skewed, manipulated, at times ethereal, at times uncanny, always interesting. “If I’ve got a style,” he once said, “it’s that I’ve got no style.” His development started in 1995, when he came to London from Norway to study at the London College of Printing. After four months he was discovered and snatched away from his degree by Nick Knight, who employed him as his assistant for the next four years. It was a formative education, working within the extraordinarily influential and inventive environs of SHOWstudio, alongside many of the key creatives of the era. And since then, he has continued to push the form of the fashion photograph far beyond the formula of girl-meets-dress, creating finely wrought, intelligent, beautiful images that always startle and intrigue.
"If I’ve got a style, it’s that I’ve got no style" — Sølve Sundsbø
Having settled in London many years ago, with his wife and four children, this month marks an exciting landmark for Sundsbø as he returns to Norway for his first large scale show in his homeland. But as is his wont, this is not a traditional retrospective; rather, Rosie and 21 Men is reflective of the photographer’s gleeful penchant for undermining expectations. So, as the show opens at Oslo’s Shoot Gallery, AnOther asks him what inspired him to choose the subjects and what it means to be showing in Oslo for the first time.
What does it mean to you to do a full scale exhibition in your homeland? Is this the first time?
It is the first time and it feels great. I am really proud to show the people I love what I have been up to.
How have you found doing an exhibition focused so strongly on images of men? Has it been an interesting way to consider your archive?
It is always really interesting to narrow down the point of view when you are looking at something quite big. I found that I shoot men pretty much the same way I shoot women. I try to avoid masculine clichés and focus on the individual.
Is there a particular image in the show that brings back happy or exciting memories for you?
I think they all do. They all leave a very acute memory of the things that happened around the images. The people, the music, the smell, the problems and the joy.
How does living in the UK differ from Norway? What do you miss from your home town?
It is very different. Norway has the innocence of being provincial and quite pure. The energy and the pace and grit of the UK makes it so much more interesting for me as a photographer. But I miss the nature and the quiet lifestyle.
What do you have coming up next?
A lot more of the same, I hope!
Rosie and 21 Men is at Shoot Gallery, Oslo, until 7th December.
