The End of Summer

Daniel Karlsson is now 43 years old, living in Malmö, Sweden, with Hanna and his two sons, Rise & Svante. Daniel was born and raised in Hässleholm, Sweden.

When I first met him, in 2001 he was 22, and studying at ICP in New York. At the time, he was working on a series of black & white nude self-portraits. I remember Daniel telling me that he wanted to “confront myself, challenge myself.” Daniel had wrestled back in Sweden, and also did military service. I always thought if you’re going to be young and fit, that’s definitely the time to be taking nude self-portraits. (This was before the advent of the omnipresent nude selfies that have proliferated on Twitter, Tik-Tok, and the apps; those pictures show a lot of young and fit boys and girls, but not so much artistry. Then again, they’re taken for a different purpose).

After pursuing photography studies at ICP and film studies at UCLA, Daniel returned to Sweden in 2008

Since then, Daniel has documented young wrestlers at the IK Spart Wrestling Club in Malmö, and photographed his circle of friends. Writing of the End of Summer pictures, Daniel said “It is late August and the youth of Dalby, a small village about 20 km northeast of Malmo, are taking a night swim in the old quarry. It’s a great place to escape into nature, to be yourself, or build a fire, drink beer, smoke and make out in the last days of summer.”

Peter Hay Halpert

Daniel Karlsson is represented by Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art.