Helene Schmitz Thinking Like a Mountain

Schmitz’s latest photographic investigations explore humanity’s impact on the environment. Her exhibition at Fotografiska New York will feature a selection of work from her series Thinking Like a Mountain (2018) and Kudzu Project (2013). Earlier projects have focused on the aggressive and sometimes fragile relationship between nature and human beings, one that is spiraling out of control. Kudzu Project shows the ongoing destruction that began after a climbing vine (Pueraria lobata) was brought overseas from its native home in Japan. Once planted in the United States, the eponymous plant became an invasive species with dire consequences for industrial and ecological infrastructures in the American South. Thinking Like a Mountain sheds light on the relationship between the ownership and exploitation of natural resources in Sweden and Iceland.

Helene Schmitz studied at Stockholm University, graduating with a BA in Film and Art History. Her work has been presented in solo shows at numerous venues in Sweden and internationally. Schmitz’s artistic oeuvre has also been featured in several award-winning books including Thinking Like a Mountain (2018), Borderlands (2015), Ur Regnskogens Skugga (2011), System och Passion (2007) and Blow Up (2003). Both Blow Up and Ur Regnskogens Skugga were nominated for the August Award. System och Passion has been translated into English (A Passion for Systems), French, and Japanese.

Her work is represented in many prominent collections, including The Danish Agency for Culture, Denmark; the National Public Art Council, Sweden; Oslo Municipality, Norway, Moderna Museet, Sweden; the SEB Collection, Sweden; the Cultural Administration of the Stockholm County Council, Sweden; and in a variety of Swedish and international private collections.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website