In my books, Norwegian-born artist Torbjørn Rødland needs no further introduction. I spoke with him on the occasion of the release of Dim Revelations: The 2013 Journal, published by Objektiv Press, founded by artist Nina Strand.
When I think of Rødland’s work, the first word that comes to mind is “subversive.” There is something undeniably tantalizing about many of his images, and I’ve seen a fair number of them over the years.
In the book’s opening entry, however, Rødland writes: “… I try to keep the photos from being funny or erotic. The photograph I’m interested in doesn’t quite produce a chuckle and it doesn’t quite arouse.”
K.Z: This is an honor. I very much enjoyed reading your brand new book Dim Revelations: The 2013 Journal, which is based on diary entries from that year. I chuckled several times, and I loved all the references and insights. According to the preface, you had not kept a diary before 2013, or after, for that matter. What prompted you to start then? Why was that year particularly suited to this?
TR: In 2011 I published twenty sentences on photography, and the response I got to that text encouraged me to write more. I was in Scandinavia without my equipment over the 2012 Christmas holidays and decided to start writing on January 1.
K.Z: Out of curiosity, why did you leave out Sundays?
TR: I like the biblical concept of taking Sundays off. It makes a lot of sense to me.
K.Z: Right, you allude to that in one of the entries where you mention Roe Ethridge. What did an ideal Sunday look like then?
TR: Not so different from all the other days. I just didn’t have to come up with a paragraph for the journal. A Sunday could be a great day for, say, making a picture.
K.Z: The format is intimate, very reminiscent of a notebook, and fits well within Objektiv Press’ essay series. Had you always intended for it to be published, or did that idea come later?
TR: The idea was always to publish it, and the question was always when.
K.Z: So why is now a good time to publish it?
TR: I’m not sure it is. Objektiv Press asked very nicely for a contribution to their book series, and this journal was the best unpublished “essay” I could find on my PowerBook. A lot of people look back at the years leading up to 2016 as a different reality, so maybe 2013 is finally ripe for a revisit. Things and times have definitely changed.
04/26
I think I’m violating the portrait image. They think I’m violating the portrayed person.
06/01
Sexual tension is either projection, telepathy, or a combination of the two.
10/30
A photographer is someone who has grown to love the limitations of her camera.
K.Z: It’s evident that you’re a talented and very witty writer. Have you not felt compelled to keep writing?
TR: No. Every generation produces a lot of writers who do it better than me, but there is a lack of exciting photographers.
K.Z: Returning to the project more than a decade later, are there any entries that made you think, “I would not write that today”?
TR: Certain artistic approaches that felt tired to me in 2013 are receiving less positive attention today, so I probably wouldn’t feel the need to throw shade in those directions. I’m older and would generally throw less shade now, though I repeatedly went there because, as a reader, I’m excited by that type of frankness. I’m drawn to the directness in Edmund Wilson’s diaries, perhaps forgetting that they weren’t published until after his death.
K.Z: For a contemporary art audience, an introduction is almost redundant. You are one of the leading figures in contemporary photography, and your mise-en-scène approach has clearly influenced many younger artists. I would still love to ask how you first got started in photography.
TR: I grew up with a father who read amateur photography magazines. He gave me a camera when I was maybe eleven. At that time I was already a dedicated cartoonist, but when that spark expired in my late teens, I transferred my love of image-making to photography. I never seriously considered painting.
K.Z: I read somewhere that you have also worked with video and film, which I was not aware of at all. I believe some of those works were made before you moved to Los Angeles. Has living in the city not inspired you to revisit those mediums? Reading the book, it’s evident that you’re very interested in film.
TR: Moving to Los Angeles in 2010, I thought the next step would be to make a movie long enough to cross over into the world of cinema, but Hollywood diminished rather than strengthened that appetite. Last year I moved away from California. Let’s see if the hunger returns. I won’t tell you my genre-bending idea for a feature-length film, as it has still not been attempted by anyone else.
K.Z: Finally, what is left for you to explore? You’ve exhibited widely, in blue chip galleries and world-renowned institutions alike. What still excites or challenges you?
TR: Oh, I’m not as impressed by the reception as you seem to be. Have you ever seen one of my exhibitions? Very few have. In my mind, it’s just getting started. It will be a long process. What else is exciting? There are still a lot of possible photographic images that just aren’t being created. I’ll try to make some of them.
Koshik Zaman is a freelance writer and independent curator based in Stockholm, Sweden. He has been a contributor editor to Daily Lazy since 2026.
All images courtesy of the artist/Objektiv Press.
1. Hot Dog, 2013, 28 x 35 cm
2. Dim Relevations: The 2013 Journal, Objektiv Press, 2026
3. Untitled, 2013, 45 x 57 cm
4. Corpus Gnosticum, 2013, 45 x 57 cm
5. Avocado, 2013, 60 x 76 cm
Dim Revelations: The 2013 Journal is available through Objektiv Press.