WHAT DOES POSSESSION MEAN TO YOU? - Celeste Knirke Arnstedt
Celeste Knirke Arnstedt (b.1995) is a Danish artist based between Copenhagen and Gothenburg, where she is currently pursuing a BFA in Fine Art Photography at HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design. Working primarily with photography and installation, she aims to create a visual language to communicate with her surroundings. Coming from a photographic background, her choice of medium comes with the advantage of being very well used and accepted in our everyday life.
“I experience photography as a universal language with an exponential growth. I use the lens as a visual transmission to explore how narratives can be constructed and manipulated through sequences and editorial processing. I believe that storytelling is one of our most powerful tools for conveying culture and history, promoting interest, curiosity, learning and understanding.”
It appears to Arnstedt that there is an analogy between art and storytelling. She is captivated by the idea of creating an interaction between generic image aesthetics and fine art photography. “I wouldn't say that I am an archetypal documentary photographer, however, I find great inspiration in building my images from real life events.”
Her works imitate popular cultural tendencies while reflecting on and exploring things that already exist. In her project “What does possession mean to you?”, she reflects on the matter of belongings. Working with recognizable objects, contemporary trends and familiar scenarios, Arnstedt examines how single images relate to each other through sequencing. Feeding on shiny green apples while taking part in a plastic fantasy we search for authenticity in a fabricated world of socially constructed desires. You were still present in that moment, in the position of possessing. Searching for self validation while being caught up in a capitalist society. What does it mean to gain ownership of something and how can it so easily lead to either flourish or complete destruction? Arnstedt investigates the link between the world of consumption and the volatile moment of desire.