118 pgs. Hardcover, 95 photos with illustrations, printed on 140# Mohawk proPhoto Pearl paper

edition of 2, one for the author and one for the Erikkson Johansson family

In August of 2022, Tim Soter travelled to Sweden to stay with Marie Erikkson and her family in the little town of Kungälv outside of Gothenburg. The two had met at a high school in Pennsylvania some thirty-five years prior when she was an international exchange student. They stayed in touch for decades, having some mutual friend as well as similar tastes in music, aesthetics and design. This book documents his second trip to Sweden (first visit was to Stockholm) and is a summer love letter to the country that he has, in the last few years, connected with as a real sister country.

Much like his previous book Environments, this book displays quirky cultural incongruities that caught his eye, all and shot vertically and captured with a fixed 35mm lens. A discarded giant from a closed amusement park is repurposed as a nighttime mischief custodian. A pair whose clothes twin, stand on a pier completing the tricolor landscape. A loppis (thrift shop) stores its second-hand washers and screws in an empty can of cat food with a feline face staring panicked at the viewer.

But it’s also a loving travelogue and acknowledgement to a reoccurring summer that boasts eighteen-hour days. A fresh set of eyes on the common beauty of a country that seems tidy and uniform. Where mushroom hunting is a seasonal ritual and exact hunting spots are not shared beyond family.

Soter picked up ephemera (and cola gummy candy) while there – but most of what he brought back were books. One such book was a 1949 collection of children’s stories and pictures, Den roliga boken, (The funny book) designed by John Liljeström. Soter plucked those drawn illustrations and integrated them into his book as a playful nod to the seemingly wholesome past as well as the widely accepted, stigma-free thrifting and recycling culture. Tiny vintage characters mirror current actions, suggesting that maybe not much has truly changed in hundreds of years. And that perhaps Sweden, tying neck and neck as the most northern country of Europe and a bit outside of that bustling cluster of cultures, might still be a bit more provincial.

It is a book limited to an edition of two copies, one for himself and one as a gift to his very generous host family.