Linnean Memories
45 c-prints, Linnaeus Hammarby, Uppsala, Sweden, 2006 Outside of Uppsala lies the parish of Danmark (Denmark in Swedish), where the museum of Linnaeus home in Hammarby is situated. I grew up in the area and as a child I played football for the club Danmarks IF. At some away games, people wondered how we, being Danes, spoke Swedish so well. Likewise, it seemed natural to support the nation Denmark when Sweden did not do well in sports or in the Eurovision Song Contest. One could probably argue that Danmark influenced others’ image of me as well as my self-image. Names seem to affect us. Personal names, names of cities, streets or companies all have parallel meanings, which contribute to the construction of identities. Consciously or unconsciously we act on this. In and around Uppsala there are a number of former Linnean properties (in swedish so called Linnean Memories), places of memories of the famous scientist Carl Linnaeus life and times. They are places where Linnaeus either lived or worked. Therefore, to grow up in Uppsala was to grow up with Carl Linnaeus, even though he died in the eighteenth century. In school we read about him, we made field trips to the Linnean properties, we had coffee in cafés and went shopping in shops named after him. We even met him in person, portrayed by Uppsala profile Hans Odöö. In many ways Uppsala is described as Linnaeus’ town. What does the name Linnaeus symbolize, what is it used for and why? In Uppsala of today there are, for instance, a fertility clinic, a hotel and a pizza place all named after him. Linnaeus indirectly works in all these contexts too, as his name is believed to be forming associations with the businesses in a positive way. In this exhibition, I show photographs of places, people and objects that are connected to Carl Linnaeus in an obvious way. It is a documentation of the formal and informal Linnean memories of Uppsala.http://livepage.apple.com/
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