PER ENGLUND'S LIFE GEOS ON

When Swedish photographer Per Englund was six years old he borrowed his parents’ camera and took pictures of his friends playing on a frozen lake. He’s been taking pictures ever since, mostly of everyday life and always with a book or a zine in mind, which are the best ways of presenting photography because then you're allowed to touch the goods. He just released the book Life Geos On (it’s not spelled wrong, keep reading ol' Eagle Eye), a photo diary summing up his years of traveling back and forth to Cape Town. It’s made to look as if it was all taken in one day and one night, the day signifying distanced contemplation and the night intimate participation. Anyway, it’s a nice break from the usual “look at the poor black people” photographic work we usually see from Africa.

Per sees books as tattoos: once they’re done, you can’t take them back. So before publishing it, he spent ages—like five years—thinking about this pretty, black and white little gem of a book.

This is the first picture I took on the first day of my first ever trip to Cape Town. The guy talking on the phone is my friend Mlamli--he was working in the hotel bar and must have felt how curious I was as he wouldn’t stop talking. He was from one of the townships [that’s what they call shanty towns in South Africa] and as the hotel management allowed him to only talk about luxury and beaches, we started to meet up in secret. He took me to the townships and contrary to the countless warnings, the people there were warm and friendly. That’s what my previous book, The Beautiful Struggle, was about: showing the Townships’ positive vibe instead of the image shown in the media. I deliberately held the book release out there, forcing the media and people who warned me about it to see it with their own eyes.

This picture is from a party at the Castle, which is the oldest building in South Africa. Today it’s filled with artist studios and they used to throw these huge shindigs there called Soft Serve Art Parties with exhibitions in every room, projections on the walls and bars, and dance floors everywhere. I don’t even remember taking this picture; I must have been really drunk. Anyway, it summarizes the night well.

This one was taken by the girl I was staying with, a model I had met on a fashion shoot. I initially went to Cape Town to work as a photo assistant, but then I started working on my own projects instead and have been doing so ever since.

This picture was taken at a fashion shoot I assisted at. We had encountered the fat lady the day before and she had been really aggressive, screaming at us to get the hell away from ”her” spot on the beach. So the next day when she saw us, she just stepped right into the picture and had a long, looooong shower, meticulously cleaning herself. I immediately took out my contax and snapped away. The girl on the left is a model patiently waiting while the lady was taking her time.

This is the view from Lions Head, a mountain in the middle of Cape Town. I went up there to watch the sunset and as soon as it was down, the moon instantly appeared. You can only take a picture like this when there's a full moon, otherwise it’d be too dark to walk down again. See that tiny spot right above the moon? At first I thought it was dust but then Museum Studio, who designed the book, told me it was Jupiter. So I let it be.

This was tagged on a bridge next to where I lived. I like how it’s misspelled because it’s such a good symbol of Cape Town’s political situation: Sure, times are better but there’s still something that isn’t quite right. By coincidence there’s a homeless man on one side and a fancy new car on the other. But it’s also humorous. It was a perfect title for the book.