Hendrik Zeitler - A place of one's own

Images from three alternative collective houses in Norway and Sweden: Blitz and Ya Basta in Oslo and Kvarnis in West Bothnia. The houses are havens for political movements, necessary meeting places where politics are discussed and practiced in the everyday.

“In these houses we meet an underlying aesthetics that reflects the lifestyle, by fashion and decor. While we strongly recognize a lot from similar places in other countries, the houses are subjects to changes – slogans and symbols change, houses get demolished or renovated, people move in and out. While history is present for the residents, it is also elusive. In time the living memory will disappear, and the documentary materials become the only thing left to tell us about the people and the everyday life that general history writing has overlooked.” Ana Betancour

I got, through a friend in the animals rights movement, in touch with the Ya Basta-house for the first time in 2000. I have since then, until the house was torn down in 2005, spent much time in the house. Contacts with the other two houses were also established through a mix of political networking and personal friendship. Suddenly I saw how quickly those places were changing: Ya Basta was torn down in 2005, Blitz renovated in 2009 and in Kvarnis rooms were constantly changed by people moving in and out. Images of Ya Basta were taken 2004–2005, Blitz 2006 – 2010 and Kvarnis 2007 – 2009.

Nominerad till Svenska Fotobokspriset 2011 med motiveringen: Perfekt scenograferad röra ger tyngd åt och skapar nyfikenhet på en samtida rörelse.