I have been following Lina Scheynius‘ work for over a decade. I wasn’t active on Flickr when the site experienced its most active and widely used days (at the time, I was busy working on my blog). But I knew that she had built a very dedicated following there, from which resulted books and exhibitions.
Once everything moved over to Instagram, I became aware of Scheynius’ never ending struggle with that site. Her posts were getting removed, even though the bulk of her work didn’t even appear there. I had wanted to speak with her about this experience for a while. At the same time, focusing on the troubles with Instagram felt like taking away too much attention from the photography itself.
But now, Scheynius’ artist books have been re-published as a box set, and there is a brand new book. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to reach out and talk with her about the many aspects of her career. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Jörg Colberg
You have a background in modeling and got into photography at some stage. How did this start?
Lina Scheynius
I was doing photography before, and then I started modeling. But I did photography continuously the whole time. I was really critical of how I was being photographed. So I started to do it like how I wanted it done. When I went home, I did my own shoots.
JC
Your photography has always been very personal and diaristic. Can you talk about this a little bit?
LS
I was influenced by Nan Goldin’s work. I think it was also through the fashion industry that I came in contact with it. And there was a book that Corinne Day had done called Diary, which somebody had shown me during shoots. They said: “this as the inspiration for this shoot.” I don’t know if you know, but on a fashion set, there’s often something that people are trying to copy. So I had come into contact with those two photographers. Nan Goldin is obviously still really important for me. I started to try and do work like they had done.
JC
You make it sound so easy. But you kept at it and in 2008, you self published your first book.
LS
But that was much later than when I discovered those photographers. I did everything just on my own. I didn’t show it to anyone. I just had it on my bedroom wall. In 2006, I started to show something.
“Untitled” (2016) from the Diary series
JC
How did you decide that given you had all these pictures you’re now going show them to people. I would imagine that’s a big step.
LS
It was mad.
JC
It’s so bold.
LS
I don’t know why I didn’t show them before. I think I was too shy to show my pictures to people. I couldn’t even imagine that people wanted to see them. I didn’t think that I would bring these photos to anyone to look at.
At the time, the internet was becoming bigger, and I found Flickr. I don’t even remember their names now, but I found some people who posted intimate work on Flickr. And I thought, okay, I’m going to try and post something and see how it goes. I thought it would stay small. I didn’t imagine that my parents would end up seeing it or that it would be in a newspaper for millions of people to see. [laughs] I didn’t imagine what scale it would get. At the time, I don’t think people knew, either. One thing then led to another.
JC
So you built a community of followers on Flickr, made the first book, and it grew from there?
LS
Yeah. But it had already grown quite far for me to dare to make a book. I didn’t just make a book. I made a book once I knew that people wanted a book. So it was already quite big. It happened quite fast: the first jump, or whatever you want to call it.
JC
You then made a number of books, which were recently re-released as a box set. What did you learn when you made them? You had more and more experience making your own pictures, and there was an audience. Did that change anything for you photographing? Or did you go about it organically?
LS
For the first book, I was so careful to only include pictures I knew people liked. I did only Polaroids, self portraits. Looking back at it now, it’s quite commercial. But that’s how I went about it. I needed to sell the book because I didn’t have a lot of money. And it costs a lot of money to print a book. I did everything on my own. It sold out really fast. From then on I thought: “oh, okay, I can sell this”, and I became much bolder. I realised that I could put anything in the books, and people would buy them. That was amazing. That’s such a privileged position to be in.
“Untitled” (2015) from the Diary series
JC
I don’t know how comfortable I would be to share so much of my private life. Was that ever an issue for you how do you approach it? It would be so difficult for me, and you’re doing it so boldly.
LS
I can’t really explain what gives me that courage. Sometimes, it’s definitely wavering. I go through periods when I wonder why I have done this, thinking I should do less of it.
Around 2008, I was struggling to take pictures. When I looked through the viewfinder I could already anticipate a large audience behind me. So I would think: “Okay, I’m not going to take this picture. It’s too private.” I think I had to learn to take pictures and hold them back for myself.
I think I’m learning that now again because of Instagram. There, I’m not enjoying sharing so much. I like how I started out, doing things and keeping them in a drawer. Without question. But I don’t know if I would recommend anyone to do it.
JC
Do you ever look at your work and think, I can’t I did this? People appreciate it because I shared it? I mean, I’m a super critical person. When I look back at what I did, I dislike almost everything. But there are certain things where when I look at them I think: “Wow, I can’t believe I did this. I really still like it.”
LS
Yeah, I’m definitely impressed with some of the things that the younger me has done. But it’s hard, especially with books. I self published the first 11. And technically I didn’t really know how to get the ultimate quality out of them. So often, when I would get them from the printer and think: “oh, I would change this.” But this time, with my new book, I’m so shocked. I can almost find nothing to change. I haven’t dared to look at it too much yet. But the quality is really amazing.
Spread from Touching (JBE Books, 2021)
JC
The new book is an obvious change of pace, because it features double exposures, and it has a lot of text. Can you talk about how you decided that this is something you wanted to do?
LS
I started doing a little bit of double exposures with flowers because I did a flower newspaper. I don’t know why I decided to try it with statues. I just did it with two rolls of film. Really interesting things started to happen. It was like the bodies were blending. So I continued.
The text is talking about this as well. I’ve done a little bit of toying with text before. In one of the books in the box set, there are diary entries that I’ve added. This was the first time that I wrote specifically for a book. But I wasn’t the first choice. The publisher and I thought, let’s try and get a well known author that I admire. But after a few months, we realised that we had to give up. But I had already had the idea before that I could write myself. And I am glad I did because it adds another layer to the work that I appreciate very much.
The texts are not traditional photo texts. It’s hard to explain. Some entries are from my diary, for example when I was sitting at the Louvre. There are some discussions about self portraiture and why I’ve done it.
Spread from Touching (JBE Books, 2021)
JC
Blogging fell away quickly because of the arrival of social media. At the time, I didn’t really follow Flickr that much, but it seemed to fall away, too.
LS
Yeah, it totally did.
JC
I don’t know if that’s how you got to Instagram. But you ended up there, like pretty much everybody else. And then you ran into like a huge number of problems with the site.
LS
I recently went back now to my Flickr. They didn’t display it at the time, but I have 30,000 followers there. That’s a lot of people, considering the time. It was so long ago. Flickr was really, really important for me. I could show my work completely uncensored. There was a filter and you were able to moderate yourself. Now I went back and sadly, it was like porn central.
JC
Everything turns into porn central.
LS
Tumblr as well, right?
JC
I think so. On Instagram, you don’t set the rules. You got into a lot of problems and trouble because of the so-called community guidelines. Can you talk a little bit about your experience? I think it’s important for people to hear what this experience actually does to an artist.
“Untitled” (2013) from the Diary series
LS
Well, it’s definitely hard to grow on a platform… It’s hard to show your work on a platform where you can’t show your work. A lot of the photos that are on Instagram are my flower series. And that’s nice, but that’s such a small portion of my work. Most of my work is not flowers.
JC
Your work also isn’t pornographic so I don’t understand Instagram’s reaction.
LS
It’s sexual. I have photos of a man with an erection; that could be considered pornographic. But I wouldn’t dare to post those photos on Instagram.
JC
There is the Instagram issue with female versus male nipples, which is completely absurd.
LS
I’ve had the idea to pixelate a man to post a man and pixelate his nipples.
JC
You had photos removed that weren’t remotely sexual. The reasons were completely unclear why they would do that.
LS
There was a lot of that.
JC
And you were shadow banned, right?
LS
Yeah. This means that people can’t find you. If you search for a name in the search function, it’s not going to come up.
JC
Do you think this has affected your art making or you on a personal level?
“Untitled” (2015) from the Diary series
LS
I definitely think it has affected the joy I feel with sharing the work. I also think that because the app is designed to be so addictive, that has also affected it as well. With Flicker or Tumblr, I went there to share the art work or to look at other people’s art. But on Instagram, there’s so much going on. It’s so fast paced, and there are so many heated discussions. You can get into a rabbit hole, and then half your day is gone.
JC
Now you’ve moved to a different platform with your Substack mailing list. What is the idea and what might people see?
LS
Maybe it’s like going back to blogging, even though I never did blogging. But it’s like private blogging with a very small readership who are all there because they’ve paid for it. It doesn’t feel like I’m going back to something that I’ve done before. It feels more like a new exploration. I post pictures that I haven’t shown anywhere before, and I write as well.
JC
Do you see this as the activity online that you want to do and the way to show your work?
LS
I don’t know. It’s really nice. I feel like the people are genuinely so supportive. It’s like a small, intimate room of people. But I don’t know if that’s all I want to do.
My Photo Books; photographs and text by Lina Scheynius; 11-book box set; essay by Joël Riff; 806 pages; JBE Books; 2019
Touching; photographs and text by Lina Scheynius; 88 pages; JBE Books; 2021