Week 42 - 2016
© Dag Alveng, Self-shot (with greetings to Jim), 1981/2002 silver gelatin. Property of the Preus Museum collection.
Self-shot (with greetings to Jim)
A central image in the history of Norwegian photography. Alveng freezes the moment by photographing a body in motion as it travels toward the surface of the water. In addition to the title, the self-release in his right hand indicates that this is a self-portrait, a "self-shot."
The picture's title also says it is a "greeting to Jim"—possibly a commentary on Jim Bengston's 1978 project and book "Afterwords," which has an entire series of images of a dog jumping into water.
If we bring the image over into the history of art, we might say it is also a greeting to Munch and his vitalism images from the beginning of the 1900s, with his explorations of the natural world and the human being, the body and health, physical exercise and sport.