Interview: Magnus Carlsson
Luca Curci talks with Magnus Carlsson during the 22nd edition of VENICE INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR, at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello in Venice.

Magnus Carlsson is a Swedish photographer and photo artist whose work explores the intersections of nature, culture, and memory through a distinctive visual language. Moving fluidly between realism and abstraction, his images often employ intentional camera movement, reflections, and layered compositions to evoke atmosphere and transformation. With a practice grounded in both observation and experimentation, Carlsson captures the shifting essence of landscapes and the traces they hold of human presence. His works have been exhibited in group shows across Sweden and featured in Best Contemporary Visual Artists Worldwide Guide & Catalog, Vol. 2 (2024).

Luca Curci – How did you get into photography?
Magnus Carlsson – I had a former colleague who was involved in nature photography. He told me about his work, and we often talked about it. It sparked my interest to try it myself, so I bought a DSLR camera and also joined a local photo club for a while. I started with nature photography and felt from the very beginning a desire to capture motifs, moods, and memories through the camera.

LC – When did you realise that photography could become a more central part of your life?
MC – When I started exploring ICM, new possibilities opened up in photography. It added another dimension, the same motif, through different degrees between realism and abstraction, which could convey a different or deeper feeling. Around the same time, I began combining motifs to create new image layers, where the motifs could meet and form their own world.

LC – Is there an unrealised project you would like to work on?
MC – I have ideas about combining words and text with images in the same work, allowing words and images to interact. For example, letting poetry and photography enhance or contrast with each other.

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
MC – I find inspiration in nature and the cultural landscape. A place or a motif changes through the hours of the day, the shifts of the seasons, the light, and the colours. To express atmosphere, memory, and change is central to me.

LC – What is the most challenging part of your creative process?
MC – Making choices and selections. Each image carries a place and a motif. How do I portray them and do them justice? How do I visualise the image so that the mood and feeling of the place and motif emerge?

LC – What did you think about the exhibition’s theme, and how did it inspire you?
MC – The theme addressed change, movement, and perception – something closely connected to what I already work with. The exhibition brought together perspectives on both inner and outer landscapes, where the boundaries between reality, memory, and perception could dissolve. Liquid Rooms and Future Landscapes reflected each other’s worlds of ideas in a way that felt natural to me. The themes coincided with my own exploration of time, atmosphere, and transformation, something also expressed in works where nature’s transitions and the stillness of reflection meet.

LC – How were your works connected to the exhibition’s theme?
MC – The works I presented related to both themes. In some images, it is about how the outer world becomes a reflection of the inner, and in others, how time, movement, and light transform our perception of the landscape. Through intentional camera movement, reflections, and composition, I want to express transitions between seasons, moods, and memories – as part of the rhythm of landscape and life. For me, it is about letting the viewer encounter something familiar that simultaneously changes, where time and space become fluid.

LC – What did you think about the organization of the event?
MC – The collaboration worked well, and the communication was clear. The exhibition was well organised and created good conditions for presenting works from different artistic fields. I also appreciate how the work was documented and followed up on afterwards.

LC – What do you think about the ITSLIQUID platform?
MC – ITSLIQUID Group offers a platform with international reach where artists can be seen and connect. I appreciate how they combine physical exhibitions with digital publishing and highlight the artists’ own words. It gives a more vivid picture of the process behind the works.