Life on Film

A very late but telling roll of film. It speaks of seasons changing, of friends reuniting and opportunities emerging.

In the fall of 2022, I was exiled from Sweden and forced to wait abroad for my new work visa. The requirement seemed simple enough: go wait and live anywhere but here for an unknown period whilst we decide the fate of your life. With Australia being far too expensive and too far away, I played the hand I had been dealt and went to go reunite and frolic with my friends in London. I hadn’t been back to the city since I was expedited out of it (sensing a common theme here?) during the pandemic in March 2020. A lot changes in two years; both in myself and in London. What had once been a core part of my identity and proprium, now felt alien and foreign to me. At first, London didn’t feel like mine anymore. And why should it? Four years had passed since I had first moved here, and in those four years, I had swapped it out for Stockholm. But like an old friend that you haven’t seen in a while, I soon reacquainted myself with the Underground rush, the rats, the £4 coffees and the absolute surrealism of being in one of the best cities in the world. Ah, home once again. My visa ended up only taking 3 weeks to approve (thank the Gods!) so I had just under one month to revel in the company of close friends that I hadn’t seen in years. This meant copious pints at the pub, puppy yoga with Amy, Brick Lane vintage markets, Flat Iron dinner dates with Gaby and country dog walks with Beth. And just like that, time was up. Life in Stockholm awaited.

These photographs mark an epoch in my life where I had little sense of belonging and validity. If it were not for the people that I shared those precious weeks in Britain with, I would have been a very lost and lonely little lamb. In 2022 I had spent 99% of my time setting up my life in Stockholm. Now, with a two-year visa secured under my belt, 2023 is about settling down in it. We’ve done the hard yards of scrounging for apartments, jobs, bank accounts and identification numbers — now it’s time to enjoy it.