| I became interested in photography because of portraits of people and nudity. I don’t have any issues with being naked, and I like pictures of naked people. If I can take pictures of other people being naked, I have to be able to take pictures of myself naked. I like the honesty that flows when someone is naked. Nudity continues to inspire me because I find the body fascinating. Beauty means so much to me. I don’t really care if the body is “perfect.” I find beauty in ugliness as well as in the mainstream beauty. I was kind of slow in school, or I think it was that age when everything but school was so much more interesting. After school, I was working with a welder, and worked some years at a small place with powder coating. | 
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Knotan
Food and Fashion, 2006. Digital photography. Model: Torbjörn; style: Ulla Doyen; makeup: Sophia Eriksen/Agent Bauer. First published in Lamono. Courtesy of the artist.
I became interested in photography because of portraits of people and nudity. I don’t have any issues with being naked, and I like pictures of naked people. If I can take pictures of other people being naked, I have to be able to take pictures of myself naked. I like the honesty that flows when someone is naked. Nudity continues to inspire me because I find the body fascinating. Beauty means so much to me. I don’t really care if the body is “perfect.” I find beauty in ugliness as well as in the mainstream beauty.
I was kind of slow in school, or I think it was that age when everything but school was so much more interesting. After school, I was working with a welder, and worked some years at a small place with powder coating. I said to myself, “This is enough. I can’t work at a place like this. I want to create. I want to do something new.” So I started to take pictures and I got into a photography school for three years. Now I live and work in Stockholm, Sweden.
I think my photography is funny, honest, and composed of pieces of my life. Every time I create a new piece, there is always a lot of thinking involved. There always has to be an idea even if it doesn’t look like that. Sometimes it just comes spontaneously. A lot of times I just start shooting and see where it takes me. I like to be free when I work because I always work with the model, not against.
Some people love my work; some hate it. I always hope people would stop and look at my photos, not just take a quick look and go to the next page. One of the greatest challenges I think artists face today is that there are so many artists that are so good you have to fight to get where you want to and get your work published. Difficult as that may be, the freedom an artist has is really what excites me—to have people who understand and support the things you do, and to do whatever you want.
