Swedish Dads

April, 2021 - July, 2021

With one of the most generous parental leave systems in the world, Sweden has made strides in gender equality among stay-at-home parents, but many fathers still don’t take full advantage of the system. Photographer Johan Bävman has turned his lens on Swedish dads in hopes of sharing and encouraging both Swedish dads and the global community to examine the father-child bond.

Swedish Dads focuses on the men who have chosen to stay home with their children for more than six months. Bävman has captured the moments—intimate, domestic, mundane, sweet, chaotic—that form the day for parents of young children. Through a selection of fifteen portraits and quotes from the father themselves, Swedish Dads shares an unusual domestic snapshot while simultaneously questioning why this scene is still surprising in the twenty-first century.

Says photographer Bävman “There are two aims to this project. The first is to describe the background to Sweden’s unique parental allowance. The second is to inspire other fathers—in Sweden, and further afield—to consider the positive benefits of such a system.”

Johan Bävman (b. 1982) combines his own long-term projects with freelance assignments from different clients worldwide. He has previously published the photobook Albino – In the shadow of the sun (2009). The project Swedish Dads has had a tremendous impact and has been published/shared widely all over the world.

Between the years 2008 and 2011, Johan Bävman worked as a staff photographer at Sydsvenskan, one of the largest newspapers in Sweden. He graduated from Nordens Fotoskola, Stockholm 2007. He was previously a member of Moment Agency (2007–2015). Johan Bävman has won several awards, including the World Press Photo, POY, Sony Award, NPPA, UNICEF Photo Award.

Sámi Dreams

September, 2021 - December, 2021

In just a few decades, the Sámi, Northern Europe's only indigenous people, have leapt from second-class status with schools that banned their language to becoming a semi-autonomous people with parliaments in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Now, they are grappling with new threats to their cultural survival, such as industrial and energy developments on ancestral lands. With a front-row seat to climate change, the Sámi have also watched as rapid shifts in ecosystems north of the Arctic Circle increasingly threaten their way of life.

The Sámi have much to say about climate and cultural change in northern Scandinavia. This collection of portraits and interviews, curated by accomplished journalist and photographer Randall Hyman, is intended to be a platform for the Sámi to speak frankly and directly to Americans and Scandinavians alike, sharing their concerns about a world that is swiftly changing around them. With each photo, viewers can listen as portrait subjects speak directly to them in their native language.
​
​
​Photo Credit: Randall Hyman, Ana Maria Eira

Fogelbo & Steiner

January, 2022 - March, 2022

Details coming soon!

New Nordic Cuisine

January, 2023 - May, 2023

This exhibition focuses on a Nordic value-driven food system that has captured the attention of world-famous chefs and home cooks alike over the past 15 years.
​
The 2004 Nordic Food Manifesto articulated a set of values for approaching food through the lenses of local production, seasonality, ethical production, and innovation. The manifesto has sparked a robust dialog about food culture, both in the Nordic countries and around the world. By examining Nordic food trends in a light-hearted, interactive format, this exhibition introduces visitors to contemporary Nordic food and its driving values today.
​
Accompanying the exhibition is the Nordic Cuisine YouTube channel, which brings stories to people from recipe demonstrations to restaurant tours, to interviews with influential chefs and foodies.
​
This exhibition was organized by the Museum of Danish America, Elk Horn, Iowa.