Scars - photo exhibition that challenge a taboo

In 2004, Åsa Kalmér, a Swedish director, screenwriter and actor, underwent surgery for breastcancer. She did not belong to a relapse group; but in 2016 a new tumour was found behind the old scar, and two weeks later she underwent surgery again. This time the whole breast was removed. This is the background to the photo-exhibition SCARS. 'The idea for the project is that - via the image - I wanted to investigate what my body could now express. I thought that there must be some kind of beauty left in this body that I will live with for the rest of my life? If you are a man and have a scar, it could be a sign of bravado, or a violent victory of some kind. But I had also undergone a kind of battle. How far do gender stereotypes govern our way of looking at ourselves? I wanted to crawl under the layers; and dare to expose the fragile, and perhaps, the offensive. Scars are not only unwanted marks, they are also signs of a lived life', says Åsa Kalmér. The result is a series of images: full of cross-border sensuality, power, erotics and energy. Both Åsa Kalmér, and her husband Jörgen Hjerdt, work with shaping images via film, theatre and writing. Now they meet in a new forum: where Åsa uses her experience in directing and acting, and Jörgen, his experience in photography and storytelling. It all began when Jörgen and I were in our studio on a hot summer day. For six months I - my body - had been treated with chemotherapy, radiation, and medicine. Jörgen and I walked around barechested. It was different to be without a breast on one side of my chest. Almost so that I felt a little androgynous. I wore a wig because of chemotherapy. It was like a shell to crawl into. I was disguised. But who was I now in my new body? Jörgen started photographing me, and we tried different attitudes to find an expression that pointed forward'. Jörgen Hjerdt says, 'The pictures became a way for us to process what we had been through together. Åsa's desire was allowed to rule. It was important not to portray Åsa's body as a victim of cancer, but to see all that other stuff; the humour, the anger, the sadness, the sensuality. All the energy, and experience that is the scarred body. It was also in some way about aestheticizing a taboo. It can be a way to break it'.