ON HOPE

We have just lived through an extraordinary period, and in time we will surely all remember the first years of the 2020s with a complexity of feeling. Across the world, nowhere escaped the consequences of the pandemic.

Finding reasons for optimism is fundamental to human nature; we rely on hope in order to survive, to flourish and with some luck, to live a fulfilled existence. Hope crosses all human boundaries; age, race, class, gender, ethnicity and any religious, political, or cultural persuasion.

At the same time, hope requires participation. It´s something we do, rather than something we have. Hope is not accepting that everything was, is or will be fine, but the motivation for progress, the drive to keep moving forward. To hope is to embrace the unknown.

At the heart of this exhibition is the message that we live in a complicated and ever changing world. And in truth, it has ever been thus. Life is often difficult, things are imbalanced, and no one can sidestep unhappiness, but it is also full of love, courage and promise.

ON HOPE is an exhibition from the 29 graduating students of Bilder Nordic School of Photography. Through these projects, we explore and illuminate themes inspired by and anchored in the concept of hope.