Description

After completing his highly personal study of love, Sabine (2004), Jacob Aue Sobol was at a crossroads in his career. His next move, the year after ‘Sabine’ was published, was to travel to Guatemala to undertake a new documentary project. Despite adopting a more traditional approach, the photographer aimed to carry with him the same sense of closeness with his subject, in this case the Gomez-Brito family. He lived with them in their home for a long period, studying Spanish so he could talk to them. Sobol spent time working with the men and the boys on their land, and with the women and the girls in the house. Only when there was a level of mutual trust did he begin to take photographs.

To me, the camera is a tool with which to express myself

Jacob Aue Sobol
© Martin Parr | Magnum Photos

Jacob Aue Sobol was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1976. He lived in Canada from 1994-95 and Greenland from 2000-2002. After studying at the European Film College, Aue Sobol was admitted to Fatamorgana, the Danish School of Documentary and Art Photography in 1998. There he developed a unique, expressive style of black-and-white photography, which he has since refined and further developed.

Aue Sobol is known for his unique, expressive style of black-and-white photography, which focuses on the universality of human emotion and the search for love within oftentimes harsh surroundings. He has made significant work in Tokyo, China, Greenland, Guatemala and along the Trans-Siberian railway. Aue Sobol became a member of Magnum Photos in 2012.

© Jacob Aue Sobol | Magnum Photos

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