Dawid Björn Dawidsson

Dawid, the artistic name of Björn Dawidsson, is one of Sweden’s most respected and influential photographers. Born in Örebro in 1949, Dawid studied photography at Christer Strömholm’s School of Photography in Stockholm from 1969 to 1970 and graphic design at Beckmans College of Design in 1971. He made his debut as a photographer in the early 1970s and has since become a defining figure in Swedish contemporary art.

Artistic Approach and Impact

Dawid is celebrated for his conceptual and highly original approach to photography. In the 1970s, he began by documenting incongruous moments with a wry sense of humour, but it was with the Rost (Rust) series in 1983 that he truly broke through, challenging the prevailing documentary tradition in Swedish photography. Dawid’s work is characterised by its stark, minimalist aesthetic and its focus on ordinary, often overlooked objects – such as queue tickets, rusty nails, or old bottles – which he transforms into abstract compositions that question the nature of representation and perception.

His images, often produced as vintage silver gelatin prints, balance on the boundary between the graphic and the photographic, exploring the medium’s material and visual possibilities and constantly pushing its limits. Dawid’s radical experimentation has earned him recognition as both the last modernist and the first postmodernist in Swedish photography.

Exhibitions and Legacy

Dawid has exhibited extensively in Sweden and internationally, with solo shows at major institutions such as Liljevalchs Konsthall, Moderna Museet, Hasselblad Center, and galleries in Paris, London, Berlin, and New York. In 2009, Dawid was awarded the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s Grand Prize for his artistic achievements. Over his long career, he has published more than 30 photobooks and remains a vital force in contemporary photography, continuously redefining the medium’s relationship to reality and abstraction.