Last Night in Sweden

Sweden’s most acclaimed photographers have come together to set the record straight and show what really happened ‘last night in Sweden’ in a visionary new photo-book and exhibition. Sweden’s most acclaimed photographers have come together to set the record straight and show what really happened ‘last night in Sweden’ in a visionary new photo-book and exhibition. Many ‘alternative facts’ about Sweden have been shared recently, most notably when, in February 2017, Donald Trump provocatively referred to ‘what happened last night in Sweden’ – falsely alluding to an incident of terror. Some of the opinions discussed about the Scandinavian country are fuelled by ignorance or serve a hidden agenda, and come from people who have never been to the country itself. While at the same time, social unrest and terrorism do, of course, exist.

telling the true story

Swedish photographers, including World Press Photo of the Year winner, Paul Hansen, now wish to show the country as it really is, from the inside – in its multiplicity, subtle textures, and political, social and cultural nuance – telling the true story of what happened in Sweden ‘last night’.

A collection of brilliant, diverse, and award-winning photojournalists have been commissioned to document everyday life all over Sweden: conveying the country across all social statuses, photos arranged according to the day of the week they were taken. This profound and insightful photo-book encapsulates a true and candid Sweden, and includes all the small moments that rarely make the news but do make up a multifarious and largely prospering country.

The first copy of Last Night In Sweden will be sent to President Trump directly on publication on 7 September, as well as all members of the US Congress and European Parliament.

The title has been funded by a Kickstarter campaign, enabling a wide range of people to participate in the defiance of false news and the creation of an alternative narrative to the mainstream news agenda. £30,000 was raised in one week for the creation of the book, with backers from over 22 countries. The photobook project has now hit its final target of 350,000 SEK.

“The pictures do not depict a paradise or a perfect society, but they are a response to the politicised image of Sweden as a country in crisis.

Because we know that the nation is a daily plebiscite in which we choose what kind of people we want to be.” From Foreword by Henrik Berggren.

Further notes about the project

The Last Night In Sweden project is initiated and managed by the non-for profit foundation Expressions of Humankind. The foundation has initiated and managed documentation projects like A Day in the World, which was the largest-ever single day photography project, documenting a single day in human history, across the world.

Author of the Foreword, Henrik Berggren, is a Swedish journalist, writer and historian. He has written several books, including works on Olof Palme and former UN Deputy Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld.

A selection of photographs from the book will be shown in an exhibition at Fotografiska (Stockholm, Sweden), 12 September – 29 October, 2017. Furthermore, a traveling exhibition will be presented at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Fotografer med bilder i utställningen och/eller boken:

Hampus Andersson, Erik Ardelius, Elin Berge, Margareta Bloom Sandbäck, Evelina Carborn, Peter Claesson, Lars Dareberg, Hannu Einarsson, Johan Engman, Marcus Erixson, José Figueroa, Linda Forsell, Dick Gillberg, Jeppe Gustavsson, Niklas Hagman, Paul Hansen, Marcus Haraldsson, Thomas Harrysson, Lina Haskel, Malin Hoelstad, Peter Holgersson, Lotta Härdelin, Adam Ihse, Malin Jochumsen, Moa Karlberg, Thomas Karlsson, Oskar Kihlborg, Pavel Koubek, Niklas Larsson, Roger Larsson, Jonas Lindkvist, Johanna Lundberg, Jack Mikrut, Anette Nantell, Anna-Karin Nilsson, Kicki Nilsson, Izabelle Nordfjell, Tomas Ohlsson, Lars Pehrson, Per-Anders Pettersson, Anna Simonsson, Åsa Sjöström, Daniel Stiller, Magnus Sundberg, Erik G. Svensson, Per-Olof Sännås, Lisa Thanner, Ola Torkelsson, Roger Turesson, Anna Tärnhuvud, Frida Winter, Axel Öberg.

Fakta om Sverige och svenskar:

• 74 % av Sveriges kvinnor tränar fler än 20 gånger på ett år.
• 61 procent (64 procent av kvinnorna och 57 procent av männen) går på konsert, teater eller dansföreställning någon gång under ett år.
• Varannan svensk har tillgång till ett fritidsboende.
• Under 2016 invandrade 163 005 personer till Sverige.
• 2016 bodde det i Sverige nära 1,7 miljoner personer som var födda utomlands.
• 94 % av glasförpackningarna i Sverige återvanns 2016.
• I Sverige slänger hushållen 4,2 miljoner ton sopor på ett år. Det motsvarar ungefär 430 kilo per person och år.
• I genomsnitt häller varje vuxen i Sverige ut en kopp kaffe om dagen.
• År 2015 köpte svenskarna godis för 38 kronor och frukt för 27 kronor per person och vecka.
• Svenska priser för mat och alkoholfria drycker ligger 24 procent över EU-genomsnittet.
• Genomsnittssvensken köpte bananer för 289 kronor under 2015.
• I Sverige talas omkring 200 olika språk. De största språken efter svenska är finska, bosniska, kroatiska, serbiska, arabiska, kurdiska, spanska och persiska. Sverige har dessutom fem nationella minoritetsspråk: finska, samiska, meänkieli, romska och jiddisch.
• 2016 var befolkningstätheten 24,5 personer per kvadratkilometer.

Fakta om boken:

Författare: Petter Karlsson
Antal bilder: Närmare 100
Formgivning: Patric Leo
Omfång: 176 sidor
Format: 24 x 22 cm
ISBN: 978-91-7126-427-5

För ytterligare information om boken kontakta:

Jennifer Paterson.
Tel: +46 (0)72-253 13 10, +46 (0)8-545 043 10
E-post: jennifer.paterson@maxstrom.se (mailto:jennifer.paterson@maxstrom.se)