Photographer Sonja Hesslow is an Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘The bird figure is my alter e go’. To see Sonja’s body of work, click on any photograph.

The bird figure is my alter ego was created during a course in contemporary art, at a time when I felt trapped in my own artistic practice. For a long time, I had been used to creating art that was intended to be sold, and I had gradually begun adapting my work to other people’s expectations. I had lost some of the freedom and joy that had made me want to be an artist in the first place.

During the course, I wanted to create something completely free from expectations and step away from photography as my medium. I wanted to make something just for myself and give myself time to experiment with materials without wondering whether the result was something that could be sold. I therefore created a physical bird figure as an image of the kind of artistic practice I longed for – free, playful and guided by my own voice. The bird became my alter ego and a dream of being able to fly freely in my creative work again.

The wings are made from scrap metal that I found in different places throughout my life. Some of it came from my parents’ home, some from my own home and workplace, and some from a box of discarded pieces at a metal shop. I did not want to buy anything new. I wanted the wings to be made from things that were already around me – from my experiences and my history. The fact that some of the material came from my parents’ home also became symbolic to me, as a large part of who I am today has been shaped by my upbringing.

The hair on the figure is my own hair, which I cut off and used for her. In this way, a physical part of myself also became part of the figure. This reinforces my feeling that she truly is my alter ego – a part of me that I have given her own body and form.

I think of my experiences as material rather than as heavy baggage. Life will continue to change the wings. Perhaps a piece will fall off when I encounter a setback, and I will have to repair them again. But rather than carrying my experiences like a heavy backpack, I want to let them become something that helps me fly.

The wings contain small pockets with symbols that serve as reminders to myself. An eye reminds me to see myself. A heart reminds me to create with kindness and care towards myself. A stop sign reminds me to set boundaries when my intuition tells me something is not right. The sun reminds me that I create because it brings me joy. It is like carrying my values with me – small reminders of what matters when self-doubt or other people’s expectations become too strong.

The bird is both a work of art and a reminder. It gave me the opportunity to stop, create without expectations and find my way back to a part of myself that I had lost. It became a way of daring to spread my wings again.

I have photographed the figure in order to present and portray it through photography, but it is fundamentally a physical artwork and will also be exhibited in its three-dimensional form.

Artist Statement

My artistic practice is rooted in my own feelings, thoughts and experiences. Creating is a way for me to process what I go through while also exploring things that fascinate me – the relationship between reality and imagination, nature and our place within it, and the possibility of seeing the world from another perspective.

I build worlds that do not exist, but could exist. I sometimes imagine a parallel world alongside our own, where nature, animals and humans belong together in a different way. In a time marked by uncertainty and conflict, the need for such a world has become even stronger for me. Through my work, I want to create places where there is room to pause, dream and breathe.

Nature is a recurring element in my work. I draw much of my own strength and joy from being outdoors – from forests and lakes to the small details that are easily overlooked. At the same time, I carry a sadness about the way we treat our world. Nature therefore becomes both a source of comfort and a reminder of something we risk losing.

I am trained as a photographer and have worked primarily with photography for many years, but today I see myself more broadly as an artist. For me, the medium is secondary to the idea. When photography is not enough to express what I want to say, I turn to other materials and techniques. I often build small worlds and figures by hand and then photograph them. Working with my hands is an important part of my creative process – I do not only want to imagine a world, I want to build it.

There is also a strong sense of play in my process. I enjoy building, experimenting and discovering what happens when different materials and ideas meet. It is important to me to follow my curiosity and allow the creative process to take unexpected directions.

I do not use photography to document reality. Instead, I use its ability to create a believable image of something that does not exist. Through light painting, physical props and digital manipulation, I create surreal images that exist somewhere between reality and dreams.

I want my work to evoke something that stays with the viewer. I hope they feel warmth, calm and, above all, a sense of hope – perhaps a feeling that there are other ways of seeing the world. I do not want an image to be finished once the viewer has understood what they are looking at. I want it to continue living in their thoughts.

Biography

Sonja Hesslow is a Swedish artist based in Stockholm. She studied photography at Media College Denmark from 2010 to 2015 and has since developed a surreal and dreamlike visual language in which photography meets hand-built worlds, light painting and other materials.

Hesslow's artistic practice explores the relationship between reality and imagination, nature and our place within it, and the ways in which inner feelings and thoughts can be expressed through art. She often constructs her subjects by hand and uses photography to create believable images of worlds that do not actually exist.

Hesslow has held solo exhibitions at venues including Fotoparken in Gustavsberg, Halmstad Konsthall and Galleri Mats Bergman. Her work is represented by galleries in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Her work has received international recognition through the 2025 Icon International Photography Awards, where she was named a Top Ten Finalist in the Portrait Creative Individual category and received one Gold Award and three Silver Awards. In 2025, she won the Swedish Championship in Photography (SM i Fotografi) in the Fine Art category, and in 2026 she received the Tyresö Municipality Cultural Grant.