Using Dante’s Inferno as a loose narrative set in the contemporary world, the book is as a personal journey expressed through images that reveal a sense of unreality – a kind of veiled dreamscape – but at the same time reminiscent of the underlying unease of living in a world unable to deal with major crises threatening a fragile human existence. As such, the book is also a personal response to the current covid pandemic.
The word “interregnum” describes a period with lack of clear leadership in a country, organisation or social order. Failed states will often be in an interregnum.
Ronny Rønning explores a visual language that can represent the anxieties of living in a world seemingly out of control. The images has a reference to reality, but also contains something more ambivalent – an empty, dark, and foreboding landscape, as after the catastrophe, with only remnants of human life.
As part of finding a visual language for the book, Ronny Rønning has experimented with the photo medium. He has used an analogue camera, black & white film and flash. During development the film has been exposed to light in an attempt to find a visual expression appropriate for the book’s topic.
62 b/w images • Layout and design: Ronny Rønning • Editor: Gösta Flemming • Hard cover • 220 x 275 mm • 120 pages • English • ISBN 978-91-87939-62-4 • 2021
