Seascape 3rd place winner

A jetty just north og Copenhagen with the iconic lifeguard tower, designed by the architect Arne Jacobsen. This winter morning caught with icicles on the railing, congealed in its beauty, just before the morning swimmers arrived.
This picture won a bronze medal in the Danish Professional Photographers Association competition "Photographer of the Year 2023" (dff - Årets fotograf 2023).

Karen Vesterager is one half of the artist duo Surland & Vesterager, who work with photography as an interpretive rather than a documentary medium.

Our works take buildings, places, and urban spaces as their point of departure, treating these subjects as portraits. The moments that appear in our images are fictive and devoid of human presence, creating a displacement from the reality from which they originate.

Our practice explores how moments can be transformed and how time can be compressed within a single image. Through extended photographic processes, we construct works that invite immersion while challenging photography’s traditional claim to truth and raising questions about what a moment actually is. The sensuous quality of the images draws viewers into the fictive moment and creates a sense of connection to the depicted place or building.

Since 2014, we have exhibited nationally and internationally, including Art Monaco, Carrousel du Louvre, and the Florence Biennale. As members of the artists’ collective KVAS, we have also participated in exhibitions at Museum Silkeborg.

Both of us are certified Qualified Master Photographers by the Danish Professional Photographers Association, and our work has received recognition in both Danish and international photography competitions.