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Carpe Fucking Diem

Elina Brotherus
Kehrer Verlag
ISBN 978-3-86828-626-7
200 x 270 mm

Carpe Fucking Diem is Brotherus’ attempt to reconstruct the meaning of life for a future that is not what she imagined it to be. Using herself as a model, with various degrees of autobiography, is something she has done for so long that her own figure has become her tool. In Carpe Fucking Diem she uses it to talk about a failure to have a family with kids. In Brotherus’ own words: “Then one starts to look around with different eyes. I began to see the surprising and surreal undertones of the everyday life, not totally deprived of humor, because even an unhappy end is not The End. I don't have children so I don't need to adopt any preconceived role of an adult. I can give normality the finger.” Photographs of the series were partly done in parallel with the Annonciation (2009-2013) series. In Carpe Fucking Diem the Annonciation photographs are preceded by a long prologue and followed by an aftermath emphasizing that life continues. Carefully constructed tableau-like self-portraits give way to an observation of the surroundings. The immediacy of the snap shop like esthetic contrasts with the more constructed images.