A Karlsson Rixon graduated from Nordens Fotoskola in 1988, but soon broke away from the documentary tradition to become part of a new generation, helping photography become a natural element of Swedish art institutions in the 1990s.

The “third reading” in the Russian Duman occurred on 11 June 2013, and the proposal was subsequently signed into law by Putin a few weeks later. Coincidentally, the time when the law was reviewed and approved was the day when the self-organised camp opened for the tenth and, as it turned out, final time. The works appear to be landscapes, lit through by expressions of love and human community. Karlsson Rixon took the photographs from a distance to protect the identity of the models. Camp participants were not explicitly queer activists, but generally lived quiet lives. At the Time of the Third Reading represents a memento, emphasised by the photographs’ experienced quality of capturing a moment.

Art Space is exhibiting At the Time of the Third Reading against the background of increasing restrictions in Russia. December 2022 saw the prohibition of the dissemination of information about “non-traditional sexual relationships” and/or preferences, as well as sex changes, to Russians of any age, not just minors. In July 2023, legal and surgical sex changes were prohibited, including hormone treatments. In November 2023, the Russian Supreme Court branded “the international LGBT movement” an extremist organisation and banned all activities in the country.

At the Time of the Third Reading at Art Space Södertörn comprises eight photographs, a video and a sound installation (2013-2016). The project, which also includes a book, was part of Karlsson Rixon’s doctoral thesis in photographic representation from the University of Gothenburg, 2016. The book was distributed at a cultural festival in Russia with a warning label, but is now entirely prohibited in Russia, as it is in libraries and schools in several US states.

The project is also examined in Kirill Polkov’s doctoral thesis in gender studies at Södertörn University (2024), Queering Images of Russia in Sweden: Discursive Hegemony and Counter-Hegemonic Articulations 1991–2019.

Karlsson Rixon (b. 1962 in Västra Frölunda, Sweden) graduated from Nordens Fotoskola in 1988 and has since worked as an artist, specialising in photography. They were awarded an MFA from CalArts, USA (1998) and a PhD in photographic representation from the University of Gothenburg (2016) with the artistic thesis Queer Community through Photographic Acts. Karlsson Rixon is represented at Moderna Muséet, Göteborgs Konstmuseum and in several other Swedish art collections, and has taught for several years, including a professorship at what is now HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design. In recent years, Karlsson Rixon has combined their own artistic projects with public art commissions. They share their time between Brännö/Gothenburg and Los Angeles.