Time Out 13-20 jan 1999

Ulf Lundin-Photographers´ Gallery

Scenes from family life: a picnic, a walk in the woods, playing in the garden, going to school. At first glimpse Ulf Lundin's photographs seem unexceptional-sentimental shots of middle class wellbeing-until, that is, you read the explanatory text appropriately written on a mirror. "When we first met we were standing shoulder to shoulder against the gable of Nolby Elementary School... He was a class ahead of me and was by far the bolder of the two of us. He was always the one to take the first step and I was the one who followed. He still lives in the town where we grew up and now he has a wife, two sons, a home in terraced house and a steady job. The security of his life appals me and attracts me at the same time."
When you learn that Lundin has been stalking his friend for a year-hiding behind bushes, trees, and parked cars in order to snatch pictures of him and his family-the apparent innocence of the series vanishes. Looking at the pictures puts you in the shoes of a thief, kidnapper, rapist or a murderer planning his next move. The discovery that Lundin's victim has agreed to the surveillance as long as his stalker remains invisible tends, if anything, to increase the tension-the unremarkable life of this Swedish family seems under threat both from within and without. Once surveillance is accepted as the norm, the right to privacy becomes little more than vague memory. Welcome Big Brother! In this context, the most chilling image is on Lundin's friend sunning himself on the balcony. With the camera pointing at him, he becomes a target; one expects a shot to ring out and the man to slump forward.

Sarah Kent

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