« Every Second Day»

2009, 2010
Analogue Photography
Light-jet Prints
120 x 140 cm

There are not many situations in everyday life where it is not considered impolite for anyone to fix their gaze on anyone else. A man caught staring at a woman has little excuse. Is he just being rude or is he an incorrigible rubberneck? Going about his business in town, Björnsson has charted the circumstances where he can look his fill at beautiful girls. For example, when shopping for groceries it is perfectly acceptable to observe the cashier working at the checkout counter while you wait your turn. Björnsson uses this mundane supermarket routine as the basis for this series, displaying young women carrying out their work, apparently unaware of their onlooker. Captured with a camera and blown up to a life size photograph, what might be an inoffensive moment of mere admiration is taken to another dimension, where questions regarding the politics of the gaze are inevitably set in motion.