Somewhere else

Photo: Mikael Olsson (cropped).

Somewhere else from 1998 is one of Maria Friberg's earliest and best known works. It exists in two versions: as a video and as a photograph, the motif being five men in suits sitting next to each other at a table. Somewhere Else (the photo) hangs in the SSE boardroom since 2016 as part of The Board Room Project – an art project initiated to shed light on the history of SSE through the lens of today.

The motif is five men in suits sitting next to each other at a table, but the viewer sees only their legs since the photo is taken under the table. We get a glimpse of the men's ties, but no hands. They all wear leather shoes and dark trousers. In a way not unusual for men, they sit with their legs widely parted and our gaze is directed towards their crotch. Their clothes and the table recall a conference room where power is exercised.

In the film version of the photograph, the men's legs move tentatively towards eachother and gives a homo–erotic undertone. The title might express a wish to be somewhere else, or just emphasize the fact that the photo is taken somewhere else in relation to where a normal photo from a conference room would be taken.

Maria Friberg has since the 90s been interested in power and masculinity. Her portraits of men in suits break with norms for how they are usually depicted. Maria Friberg's images also suggest a vulnerability which is seldom ascribed to powerful men. SSE has three artworks by Maria Friberg in the permanent collection: Alongside Us #2 in room Estrid, Changed Position in the northern staircase (the man sitting on a pile of shirts) and Somewhere else in the Board Room.

Somewhere else was donated to SSE by Per och Lena Josefsson.