Photographer Bertil Nilsson spent a lot of time in the forest growing up in Sweden but his entire adult life living in the city. Through his experiments with dancers and circus artists he came back to explore nature and, maybe because of that childhood connection, it triggered a great sense of adventure in him.
‘Naturally’ was born from that inspiration to explore, both the landscape and our role within it. Working with the naked figure in nature is straight forward, there is an obvious connection with our natural history. Nilsson explains: ‘I’m interested in what happens when I introduce cultural elements – color, shape and dance gestures – to question that relationship. Naturally is also a personal journey of exploration for me. My interventions took on a theme of tension between order and chaos. I like to align, structure, analyse and ultimately control – in a visual sense – the world around me. The dancers with their free expression confronts me with an opportunity to let go of a bit of my control and let the chaos unfold.’