...because art makes life better

...that supports emerging artists

...that doesn't break the bank

...to feed my brain

...to give to my mates

...so my walls tell me stories

...with my Aeroplan rewards points

...when I celebrate something good

...that reflects how I think

...to fill my apartment

...that I can share with my friends

...for wedding presents (instead of toasters!)

...because posters are crap

...to understand more about the world

...to give to my friends

...for birthday presents

...as an investment

...in a heart beat

...all of the time!

Joakim Borén is a Stockholm born photographer who graduated with an Honours Degree in Design Photography from the University of Plymouth in 2005. Joakim documents historically significant architectural projects using the stark visual language of his large format camera to record socio-economic and political issues of contemporary society in the United Kingdom.

Joakim won the Cultural Award for Achievement in Photographic Studies granted by the municipality of Danderyd, Sweden in 2003, the Magenta Foundation's Flash Forward Photography Competition in 2006 and Most Innovative Newcomer at The Media Innovation Awards in 2009. He currently resides in Devon, UK.

Monoliths

The series Monoliths explores monumental architecture of the 20th century and ask visual questions about contemporary architecture’s relationship to society and the continuous quandary of social housing.

Modernism’s basic principles and the succeeding Brutalist architecture afterwards, were based on a “truth to materials” and an "anti-aesthetic" approach that changed contemporary architecture and culture forever. Tower blocks were built all over the United Kingdom during the mid-20th century as economically depressed (and World War II ravaged) communities sought inexpensive construction and design methods for low-cost housing. These towers were offering "a new model for living" with houses for the masses and "comfortable streets in the sky". It was one of the most controversial housing schemes in UK history and has come to symbolize the failure of a utopian dream.

Architecture and photography blend together in this series to create a distinct liaison between the large format camera’s attention to detail and use of artificial lighting to enhance the internal structures of this geometric and simple architecture. At night, the photographs ability to capture light reveals a view the human eye cannot register, and forms an ethereal ambiguity where grey concrete structures in depopulated spaces become even more apparent as the monolithic structures that they are.

Awards

2009 Most Innovative Newcomer, Media Innovation Awards.
2006 winner of Magenta Foundation's Flash Forward Photography Competition
2003 Cultural Award for Achievements in Photographic Studies, Danderyd, Sweden

Selected Exhibitions

2009
Group Show, FAB, Fringe Visual Arts Festival, Bath, UK.

2008
Non Places, joint exhibition, Soul Life, Barbican Plymouth, UK.

2005
Group Exhibition fortyfour.10, Gallery Republic, Exeter, UK.

Education

BA (Hons) Design Photography, Plymouth University, UK
BA (Hons) Photography, The Arts Institute, Bournemouth, UK

Selected Clients and Collections

David Sheppard Architects
Coda Architects
LHC Architects
Grainge Architects
VING Sweden
SPIES Denmark

Please note: this is an abbreviated C.V. Please visit the artist's website for further information.