Troels Bjerre - Papirværk

Troels Bjerre

Troels Bjerre (b. 1973) is a self-taught landscape photographer living on Funen. He is educated Cand. Scientist. in geology from the University of Copenhagen and works on a daily basis in the Danish water industry with water resources, afforestation and sustainability as a focal point.
Photography as a form of expression has followed him since childhood, but only in recent years has the interest developed into a form of expression in which the challenges facing our civilization are reflected. The background in the natural sciences does not deny itself. On the contrary, Troels sees natural science and art as complementary dimensions - two different ways of understanding and relating to reality for mutual inspiration.
The primary source of inspiration is nature. Not the untouched or unspoiled nature, but rather the nature or, in a broader sense, the landscape that takes shape around us as the traces we leave on the earth's biological and physical systems become deeper and deeper. So deep that they have become defining for the time we live in: the Anthropocene. Occasionally it is directly expressed in the works, but most often more subtly, when the complex interplay between nature and culture is explored in landscapes where it can sometimes be difficult and perhaps pointless to determine what is what.
It is primarily Danish landscapes that are the subject of the works. According to Troels, it can also be difficult to find
good arguments for traveling to the end of the world to live out artistic ambitions, when you can also open your eyes to what is around you. Here, a landscape is revealed that has changed beyond recognition compared to the landscape that met our ancestors when they immigrated more than 14,000 years ago. Here, a landscape is revealed, which was once our obvious basis of existence, but to which we have over time gained a weaker and weaker attachment as the knowledge that originally enabled us to live off the land has been unlearned.
The collaboration with Papirværk is seen as an opportunity to add a facet to the artistic work. By showing recycled landscapes on recycled paper, the reproduction and framing become part of the narrative, giving depth to the works both directly and figuratively.