Dancing Youth

'Dancing Youth' is a collection of photographs from Victor Staaf’s hometown, Stockholm. After living away for more than 15 years he rediscovers the setting of his youth as an adult.

Dancing Youth

The first time I revisited “Obsan” (Observatorielunden), the park where I spent a big chunk of my teenage years, I noticed something I hadn’t paid any attention to before: a statue of a naked couple dancing titled ‘Dansande Ungdom’ from 1937 by Ivar Johnsson. I walked up to it and looked at it for a while but I just couldn’t remember this statue. It stands in the part of the park where I had spent a lot of time skateboarding, right where the two ponds meet. The larger pond doubles as a skatepark for part of the year, except during the summer months when it’s filled with water. It must have slipped from my memory, although right next to the statue of the dancing youth is one of the most skated areas of the pond. Hours and hours spent right next to this monument, perfecting tricks on my board, hours of hanging out and resting or fuelling up on cheap cheeseburgers, it was there all along, but I hadn’t paid any attention to it back then; now I couldn’t stop looking at it.

Dancing Youth is Staaf’s second street photography monograph. In this project he reestablishes his relationship with the city where he grew up. Using teenage memories as a starting point, the city is rediscovered anew as Staaf searches for elements, both temporary and permanent, that capture a blend of different times. More often that not, these photographs seem to be chasing ghosts, capturing signs of life left behind rather than life itself.

The work was made over a period of 3,5 years, however, in the final layout, the chronological order was ignored in order to create a new fictional year, going full circle, starting and ending with winter.

Dancing youth is a collection of photographs from Victor Staaf’s hometown, Stockholm. After living away for more than 15 years he rediscovers the setting of his childhood as an adult. Memories infiltrate the present and make their way in to his image making, linking his personal experience with the city’s historical past and its contemporary alterations.

The book dummy contains 49 color photographs, taken between 2020-2024.

Hardcover, perfect binding - 210x275mm - 104 pages - Designed by Mountain Superstudios.