Between the years 1908 and 1940 armed with her 4x5 glass plate view camera, Hilma Ljung photographed the lives and land that surrounded her. In an era where photography was dominated by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge, Ljung brings a refreshing feminine perspective to this male governing epoch.  

Ljung’s photographs parallel famed Swedish painter Carl Larsson in that her love and passion for her family and home flow through her images with the same authentic pulse. Like Larsson who painted images of everyday activities, Ljung also chronicled everyday life with a deep and genuine passion. She reveals her family’s favorite location to pick mushrooms. She walks us to a lake where one of her sons is fishing. Her image of a beautiful sunny winter day creates a yearning for a fireplace and tea. 

There is a beautiful and authentic simplicity attached to this story. A loving mother, chronicling the life that surrounded her. People are drawn to the past. Ljung’s images are windows revealing a life that was, tilling the past of people’s lives.