On International Women’s Day, 8th March 2020, Paul S. Amundsen completed a five year photographic journey through 38 European countries. His ambition? To create a portrait of a continent.
Europe is changing. In 2015 Paul S. Amundsen set off driving in the direction of Greece with the intention of documenting a continent in crisis. Refugee crises, economic collapse, and polarised ideological currents raised serious questions about the concept of a European identity.
Amundsen visited 38 different countries in search of locations significant for European history. He photographed the landscapes, with their traces of cooperation, migration, and war, and he took portraits of young Europeans who would soon leave their own marks on the continent.
In photographing the landscape and younger generation of Europeans I aim to show the continent as I experience it.
After five years on the road Amundsen’s journey came to an abrupt end. The pandemic which literally shut down the countries of Europe also brought an end to the photographer’s project.
This is a portrait of a continent before the borders were closed.
Paul S. Amundsen (1976) is a freelance photographer based in Bergen. He has worked for numerous newspapers, magazines and publishing houses and has published two books of photography.
He has received no less than 24 awards in the annual press photo awards (Årets bilde) and was named 2018’s Photojournalist of the Year. See his work here.
The exhibition Europe is supported by Fritt Ord and JW Eides Stiftelse