JH Engström

In his series of Nudes, J.H. Engstrom turns his lens to an investigation of the human form. Engstrom’s portraits are unsettlingly intimate, confronting the viewer with a disarming vulnerability and candor. Ranging from full body compositions, to cropped details, Engstrom’s Nudes convey a filmic enchantment derived equally from Victorian prints and 70s soft porn. Often tinting his images with subtle antique colours, Engstrom approaches issues of identity and sexuality with a nostalgic elegance; each image confessing the cherished requiem of love lost.

JH Engstrom’s Trying To Dance comprises a photojournalistic ‘diary’ of his life since 1990: landscapes, still-lives, self-portraits, and snapshots of friends become loosely narrative documents, recording not only the artist’s individual experiences, but a sensitive and provocative engagement with the world at large. Using photography’s ability to capture the fleeting essence of a moment, Engstrom’s Untitled is delicately tinted, transferring specific time and place to the unfixed reference of memory. Picturing young lovers in a field, Untitled translates the deeply personal to the universally sentimental, offering a scene of enduring romance tinged with sadness.