Helene Schmitz is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

photographer born 1960. In her work, Helene Schmitz is interested in how nature is described in science, art and literature. Schmitz investigates how these activities filters our understanding and her work often makes us question our preconceptions of nature. After graduating with a BA in History of Art and Cinema, she started working with photography. Schmitz held exhibitions in Scandinavia and in France and her pictures have been published world-wide in

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

. In February 2015, her largest solo exhibition took place at

Dunkers kulturhus A Dunker is a breed of dog, also known as the Norwegian Hound. Dunker or Dunkers may also refer to: People * Balthasar Anton Dunker (1746–1807), German landscape painter and etcher * Bernhard Dunker (1809–1870), Norwegian jurist, barrister ...

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

, with photos from four of her latest projects.

Exhibitions

In France, Schmitz has been represented in several international group exhibitions, including an open-air exhibition in

Jardin des Plantes The Jardin des Plantes (, ), also known as the Jardin des Plantes de Paris () when distinguished from other ''jardins des plantes'' in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. Jardin des Plantes is the official name in the present da ...

in 2007,

Transphotographiques Transphotographiques is a photography festival based in Lille, France. It was created in 2001 by Olivier Spillebout, and organized since 2003 by the House of Photography (). Activities Every year, or biannually, Transphotographiques runs exhibitio ...

in Lille (2009) and ''Arts and Nature'' in Daumain de Chaumont sur Loire in 2011. In Sweden, Schmitz's works have been exhibited at galleries as well as public locations. A semi-permanent collection of her plant portraits was shown in Stockholms subway station

Mariatorget Mariatorget (the Maria Square) is a Town square, square and a city park in the district of Södermalm in Stockholm, Sweden. History It was constructed at the end of the 1760s. Its original name was Adolf Fredriks torg (after King Adolf Frederick ...

during 2012–13. Schmitz's photographs have been published in a number of international books and magazines including the New York-based magazine

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

, which published photos from Schmitz's Kudzu Project in 2014. Helene Schmitz's work is represented at The Swedish Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm.

Books

Part of Schmitz's time is dedicated to publishing photography books. Schmitz's first book ''Blow Up'' was published in 2003 and showed extreme close-ups on plants. ''Blow Up'' was nominated to the prestigious Swedish Literary prize August Price. In 2007, Schmitz published her second book ''A Passion for Systems - Linnaeus and the Dream of Order''. The photos from this book were published world-wide in

, and the book was translated into English, French and Japanese. Schmitz's latest book ''Ur Regnskogens Skugga'' was published in 2011 and nominated for

Augustpriset The August Prize () is an annual Swedish literary prize awarded each year since 1989 by the Swedish Publishers' Association. The prize is awarded to the best Swedish book of the year, in three categories. The Swedish Publishers' Association also ...

in 2012. It also received the Swedish Publishing Prize in 2012.

Prizes and awards

In 2003, Schmitz's book ''Blow Up'' was nominated to the Swedish Literary prize August Price. In 2006 Schmitz received the award ''Photographer of the Year'' by the

Swedish Environmental Protection Agency The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (), formerly the National Swedish Environment Protection Board () is a Government agencies in Sweden, government agency in Sweden responsible for proposing and implementing environmental policies. It was ...

for her photographs in the book ''A Passion for Systems - Linnaeus and the Dream of Order''. In 2007, ''A Passion for Systems - Linnaeus and the Dream of Order'' (Swedish edition) won the Swedish Publishing Award in the category ''Magnificent Work''. In 2007, ''A Passion for Systems - Linnaeus and the Dream of Order'' also received a diploma from The Royal Swedish Library (Kungliga Biblioteket) and ''Swedish Book Art'' ( Svensk Bokkonst), the award was given with the motivation "Beautiful photographs and a design that creates a serene context". In 2014 Schmitz was a finalist in the international photography competition "Prix de la Photo Camera Clara".

External links

www.heleneschmitz.se

References

1960 births American photographers Swedish photographers Swedish women photographers Living people Swedish emigrants to the United States National Geographic photographers Women photojournalists Photographers from Stockholm {{Photographer-stub