Nikolaj Bendix Skyum Larsen
ARTIST / FILMMAKER

 The Floating Series

(2017)

Pigment print on Baryté 

 

The Floating Series began in 2016 in the Parisian neighbourhood of Stalingrad, where thousands of migrants were living in the streets. For months I went there to speak with people and to document the situation.

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I photographed individuals who were completely covered in blankets. Sleep seemed like the only moment in their day when their exhausted bodies and minds could briefly detach — when they could, in a sense, float.

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Normally, we look away from people sleeping on the street. We register the image and move on. In these works, I remove each covered figure from the street and place them in a void. Suspended in darkness, they begin to levitate. The image becomes quiet, almost sculptural — perhaps even beautiful. It is not immediately clear what we are looking at.c We look. We spend time with the form. Only gradually do we recognise what it represents.

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The blankets — marked with patterns, words or symbols — carry their own narratives, hinting at the person beneath while never fully revealing them. The body remains present, but anonymous. Protected and concealed at the same time.

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The Floating Series was part of the Tunisian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2017.