Bio

Klara Källström and Thobias Fäldt have been working together since 2005 and are based in Sweden. Grounded in the medium of photography, their work focuses on the production of knowledge, exploring media issues, historical narratives, and the depiction and perception of political events. Over the years, Källström and Fäldt have produced a number of works relating to places undergoing paradigmatic changes; they seek to activate historical layers and notions of uncertainty and chance in order to draw attention to the gap between what is visible and what is told.

Walter Benjamin’s notion of “salutary estrangement” suggests a distinction between the visual and the image. In Källström and Fäldt’s work, this distinction is the gaze looking back at us, asking what we want from the things we are viewing. Through this activation of what is unresolved, the regime —that which we might call the habitual vision—becomes visible. In this tension, our desires unfold.

Since 2011, they are the founders of the publishing platform B-B-B-Books that engages in methods of narration and visual culture and the gallery project FG2, that aims to contribute to the development and dissemination of contemporary photography in Sweden and internationally.

In 2011, Källström and Fäldt started the continuous project Wikiland that takes its vantage point in the media image of the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The same year, Europe, Greece, Athens, Acropolis, became the starting point for a series of works on the representation of the Greek crisis beginning in Athens during the general strikes in October 2011, followed up in 2016 in 25 Lemon Trees, No Gardeners. From an artist-residency in Quebec stems the project Village (2015) that revolves around the loss of indigenous languages after the colonization of North America. In exhibited form the work A Beach (2015) draws attention to the gallery space and its ability to accumulate value to an eroded history, in this case the one of Jaffa in Palestine. The Last of the Lucky derives from an encounter in the streets of Havanna in 2014, when Källström and Fäldt met a man who turned out to have been one of Fidel Castro’s former private photographers. In a city deficient of most photographic equipment, the photographer helped them find some films for their camera. Three rolls named Lucky were put to their disposal and accompanied by the following words, ‘These are the last rolls of Cuba.’ In 2016, the series was extended to The Last of the Lucky / You Can’t Always Get What You Want where the gaze is turned towards the US and where the change in the Americas is manifesting itself in messages sent over the US social network Twitter leading up to the US presidential elections later that year. In November of 2018 they began the work The Swedish Matter, which revisits the Swedish history and its blind spots seen through the lens of the country’s bio mass industry. In 2019 they collaborated with Museum of Yugoslavia and it’s photographic archive of President Josip Broz Tito. In the beginning of 2018, together with French photography collector and artist Thomas Sauvin, Källström and Fäldt initiated a work that takes its vantage point in Sauvin’s Beijing Silvermine archive which consists of photographic negatives collected from recycling stations around the Beijing region of China. In their latest collaboration On This Day from 2021, they orchestrate an encounter between the Beijing Silvermine and the Euro-American database onthisday.com with the aim of shedding light on possible scenarios in which the hegemonic order – who, in the future, will be permitted to write the history – is under renegotiation.

Källström and Fäldt’s works have been exhibited internationally including Unseen and CO-OP Unseen in Amsterdam, Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow during Krakow Photomonth Festival, Le Bal (Paris), Photo Saint Germain (Paris), LACMA (Los Angeles), Trafó House of Contemporary Arts (Budapest), Aperture Foundation (New York), Kunstal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), Hasselblad Centre (Gothenburg) CFF/Center for Photography and Fotografiska (Stockholm). They have received Hasselblad Foundation’s Large Photobook Grant of 2021, Sundsvall Museum’s Art Award (2016), the Documentary Award from the Museum of Work in Sweden (2015), Greenhill Art Award (2014) and Scanpix Photo Prize (2012 and 2006). They have received scholarships from The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm for the Artist-in-Residence at La Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris (2017), Iaspis: the Swedish Arts and Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Artists for the Artist-in-Residence at Nova Iskra in Belgrade (2016) and from CALQ in Quebec, Canada (2013).

In the spring of 2018, Tate Modern in London acquired the complete set of published books by B-B-B-Books.

Källström and Fäldt hold working grants from the Swedish Arts and Grants Committee and the Writers Committee in Sweden. Källström is a lecturer at the Master’s and Bachelor’s Program of Fine Arts in Photography at HDK-Valand, Gothenburg University.

Awards / Grants / Artist in Residence

Nominee, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, 2021 – Källström / Fäldt

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2021 – Källström

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2021 – Fäldt

Shortlisted at Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, Prix du Livre Photo-Texte, 2021 – Källström / Fäldt

Five year working grant from Swedish Authors’ Fund, 2021 – Källström

Project grant from from Gothenburg Arts and Cultural Affairs Committee, 2021 – Källström / Fäldt

Development grant from from Gothenburg Arts and Cultural Affairs Committee, 2021 – Källström / Fäldt

Crisis Grant 3 from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2021 – Källström

Crisis Grant 3 from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2021 – Fäldt

Hasselblad Foundation’s large Photo Book Grant, 2021 – Källström / Fäldt

Crisis Grant 2 from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2020 – Källström

Crisis Grant 2 from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2020 – Fäldt

Temporary scholarship from Gothenburg Arts and Cultural Affairs Committee, 2020 – Källström

Temporary scholarship from Gothenburg Arts and Cultural Affairs Committee, 2020 – Fäldt

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2019 – Källström

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2019 – Fäldt

Nominee, C/O Berlin Talent Award, 2019 – Källström / Fäldt

Two year working grant from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2018 – Källström

Project grant from Gothenburg Arts and Cultural Affairs Committee, 2018 – Källström / Fäldt

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2018 – Källström

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2018 – Fäldt

Artist-in-Residence at Air Trieste, Italy, 2018 – Källström / Fäldt

Two year working grant from Swedish Authors’ Fund, 2018 – Fäldt

Project grant from from Gothenburg Arts and Cultural Affairs Committee, 2017 – Källström / Fäldt

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2017 – Källström

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2017 – Fäldt

Shortlisted at Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, Prix du Livre d’Auteur. 2017 – Källström / Fäldt

Artist-in-Residence at Lucy Art Rescidency, Second prize winners, Greece, 2017 – Källström / Fäldt

Shortlisted at MAD book award, 2017 – Källström / Fäldt

Project grant from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2017 – Källström / Fäldt

Artist-in-Residence at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, granted through The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, Sweden, 2017 – Källström / Fäldt

Grant from Grafström-Sandqvist Fund / Sundsvall’s Museum, 2016 – Källström

Grant from KKN, Nordic Culture Point, 2016 – Källström / Fäldt

Artist-in-Residence at Nova Iskra in Belgrade, granted thorough Iaspis, 2016 – Källström / Fäldt

Grant from Theodor och Hanne Mannheimers Fund, 2016 – Källström

Artist-In-Residence at the Swedish Institute in Kavalla, granted thorough Swedish Photographers Association, Greece, 2015 – Fäldt

Shortlisted at The Swedish Photobook Award, 2016 – Källström / Fäldt

Grant from Swedish Arts Council, Distribution support to all Swedish public libraries, 2016 – Källström / Fäldt

Shortlisted at Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, Prix du Livre d’Auteur, 2015 – Källström / Fäldt

Artist-In-Residence at the Swedish Institute in Kavalla, granted thorough Swedish Photographers Association, Greece, 2015 – Källström

One year working grant from Swedish Authors’ Fund, 2015 – Fäldt

Award, Greenhill Art Award, Stockholm, 2015 – Källström / Fäldt

Artist-in-Residence at CULT in Oakland, granted thorough CULT Exhibitions, 2015 – Källström / Fäldt

Grant from Otto and Charlotte Mannheimer Fund, 2015 – Källström

Award, Museum of Work’s Documentary Award, Norrköping, 2014 – Källström / Fäldt

Shortlisted at The Swedish Photobook Award, 2014 – Källström / Fäldt

Two year working grant from Swedish Authors’ Fund, 2014 – Källström

Two year working grant from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2013 – Källström

Two year working grant from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2013 – Fäldt

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2013 – Källström

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2013 – Fäldt

Artist-in-Residence at VU Photo in Quèbec, granted through The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), Quèbec, Canada, 2013 – Källström / Fäldt

Award, Scanpix Big Photo Award, Stockholm, 2012 – Källström / Fäldt

Grant from Swedish Arts Council, Distribution support to all Swedish public libraries, 2012 – Källström / Fäldt

Grant from KKN, Nordic Culture Point, 2012 – Källström / Fäldt

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2012 – Källström

Nominee, Foam Paul Huf Award, 2012 – Källström / Fäldt

One year working grant from Swedish Authors’ Fund, 2012 – Källström

One year working grant from Swedish Authors’ Fund, 2012 – Fäldt

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2011 – Källström

Project grant from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2010 – Fäldt

One year working grant from Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2011 – Källström

Grant from Helga Axons Stiftelse, 2010 – Fäldt

Travel grant from Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 2010 – Källström

Award, Russian Reporter magazine, Picture of the year, 2010 –  Fäldt

Shortlisted at Photo Eye, Santa Fe, Best book, 2009 – Källström

Shortlisted at Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, Prix du Livre d’Auteur, 2009 – Källström

One year working grant from Swedish Authors’ Fund, 2009 – Källström

Shortlisted at Kolla! Swedish Illustrators Association, 2009 – Källström

Travel grant from Swedish Photographers Association, 2009 – Källström

Nominee, Hasselblad Foundation Viktor Fellowship, 2009 – Källström

Shortlisted at Sjuhärad Photo award, 2007 – Källström / Fäldt

Award, Scanpix Big Photo Award, Stockholm, 2006 – Fäldt

Award, Magazine of the Year – Newcomer, Swedish Magazine Publishers Association, 2006 – Fäldt