Anders Petersen is one of the most influential European photographers since the publication of Café Lehmitz in the '70s, with his intimate and direct images. In this volume are collected photos of his three trips to Rome in 1984, in 2005 (at the Rome Rome Photography - International Festival in Rome) and finally in 2012. These three personal diaries merge with one with the " another and the tensions and energies of two winters and a summer blend, going to form a single story for thirty years that for much of the Swedish photographer's career. And this is thanks to this so large part of time, in such a limited geographical context, that we can consider the photos of Rome in this book as a privileged observation of Petersen's work, thus appreciating the consistency of an extremely cohesive working body, both in the approach than in the realization.
Petersen is noted for his intimate and personal documentary-style black-and-white photographs. He studied photography under Christer Stromholm in Sweden, 1966-1967. For three years beginning in 1967 he photographed the late-night regulars (prostitutes, transvestites, drunks, lovers and drug addicts) in Café Lehmitz, a bar in Hamburg, Germany. The resulting photobook was first published in 1978 by Schirmer/Mosel in Germany. Café Lehmitz has since become regarded as a seminal book in the history of European photography. One of the photographs from this series was used as the cover art for Tom Waits’ album Rain Dogs.
Petersen’s first book Gröna Lund (Green Grove), which was published in 1973, is set in the amusement park of Gröna Lund situated on an island.
In 1970 Petersen co-founded SAFTRA, the Stockholm group of photographers, with Kenneth Gustavsson. At the same time, he taught at Christer Stromholm’s school. He has been director of the Göteborg School of Photography and Film. He began to photograph for magazines, and continued his personal photo diary work, which continues to this day. He has photographed for extensive periods of time in prisons, mental asylums, and elderly care homes.
Anders Petersen, Rome
Hardcover, 20,5x29,5 cm, 120 pages | Punctum Press | ISBN: 978-88-95410-21-0