« Café Maybach »

« Would Be Lilies »
2008
Analogue Photography
6 Ink-jet Prints
Each 38 x 45 cm

Björnsson introduces a delicate sequence in a set of six almost identical photographs depicting a young woman reading in a café. Immersed in the book that she holds in her hands she briefly glances up to see what is going on around her before returning to the book again. The parallel worlds of art and reality are reflected in Björnsson’s work, as he makes the viewer wonder about the intentions of the person sitting at the next table with a camera, documenting this moment. The unexpected perfection of the images seems too good to be true, the angle, the photogenic protagonist and her haircut that all but frames the young woman’s face. The result of careful staging or an impromptu reaction, the photos document a time span that probably lasted no more than a couple of seconds. Nevertheless, they provide a storyboard for a narrative that may range from infatuation and poesy to the obsessions of a stalker.