“I started photographing when I was 14 years old – now I am 40. During the first years, I photographed around the house, the fields, and the forest. At the beginning, it was a certain light or weather condition that inspired me and made me eager to go out. Since then, I have moved away from the village, and started to photograph on different journeys. The firsts works were from Scandinavia, Portugal, and then all around Europe, India and Africa”, said Joakim Eskildsen in 2013. The genesis of his work, the immediate appeal of light has not left the Danish photographer since then.
Directed by Martin Zarka, produced by Jonas Cuénin (former editor-in-chief of The Eye of Photography), Maxime Riché and Moira Ball for the Meero platform and his magazine Blind, Nothing Special is a documentary relating the life and work of the Danish photographer, with a hypnotic and fascination slow tempo.
Known for the series “The Roma Journeys” — result of a six-year journey (2000-2006) with writer Cia Rinne in seven different countries to document the lives of Roma —, Eskildsen defends a long investment for a photographer with his subjects. In 2014, Eskildsen also gained attention with a contrasting, colourful as well as desaturated series on Cuba. Two years later, his “American Realities” series, exhibited at Galerie Polka, showed the paradox of a society impacted by its social, economic and cultural disparities.
Nothing Special
A documentary on Joakim Eskildsen
38′, 2020
Produced by Meero Studio
Directed by Martin Zarka
Executive producer: Jonas Cuénin, Maxime Riché, Moira Ball
