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Lumières Nordiques – was published in connection with the solo exhibition “Still” by Trine Søndergaard at MuMa – Musée d’art moderne André Malraux in Le Havre, France in 2018. The publications contain works from the two series: Guldnakke (2012 – 2013) and Interior (2008 – 2013).

In the Interior series Søndergaard repeatedly visited the rooms of uninhabited Danish manors in winter. When she first arrived, the buildings had been abandoned for over half a century. They were like an empty shell of the past, with nothing to show that the rooms had ever been lived in. The images in Interior has clear references to the nineteenth-century Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi’s paintings of rooms, with their harmonious palette of greys and fine perception and rendering of light. One of Hammershøi’s paintings belonging to the collection of The Musee d’Orsay were part of the exhibition at MuMa and is reproduced in the publication.

In the Guldnakke series Søndergaard explores both the link between female history and garments and the viewer’s capacity to read historical signs. Gold is a universal symbol of wealth, the sublime or the divine, frequently kindling desire in the beholder. These bonnets date from the mid-nineteenth century and were popular among the wives of wealthy Danish farmers. Gilded textiles had previously been the preserve of royalty, the nobility and the church, so they were a status symbol. The highly skilled needlewomen who specialized in making them are early examples of self-employed women and were often able to support their families from their earnings.

Lumières Nordiques includes a short essay on Trine Søndergaard and her work by the curator and author of several books on photography Gabriel Bauret.