The margin of error

The Margin of Error is based on two different archive materials that both depict Sarek’s National Park in northern Sweden. The pictures are partly Emanuel Cederqvist’s and partly from a 100 year old archive taken by Axel Hamberg. As a landscape, Sarek hasn’t changed considerably since the last ice age around 10,000 years ago. The difference between the photographs is almost indistinguishable. It is only the camera and the position in the landscape that set the pictures apart.

Cederqvist is interested in how the camera was seen as an instrument, a tool to measure and take control over nature. His own approach to hiking and nature in itself is more of an opportunity to let go of control ー to be open to the unpredictable.

As a starting point for this project, Cederqvist found a story about a weather observer, also named Emanuel, who worked at a weather station in Sarek. In September 1917, the observer disappeared in a snowstorm and his body has still not been found.

The project consists of totally 70 images. All images in color are by Emanuel Cederqvist, the black and white images are taken by Axel Hamberg and are owned by Uppsala University, Sweden. The project is also a photo book that is published by Blackbook Publications.

emanuelcederqvist.se