All Shelters Are Marked With A Sign
All Shelters Are Marked With A Sign is a collection of photographs taken with a Rolleiflex camera from 1939. The process of the work has been a way of dealing with the gnawing feeling that everything will not be ok, no matter what other people say. The title is a phrase from the brochure “If War Or Crisis Comes” that was sent to every household in Sweden in 2018 by the government with the purpose to prepare the citizens how to act in a national emergency situation. Questions on protection and existential threats, both literally and figuratively, are central for the work, such as how these eventual threats are communicated and managed in our society. Charlotta Hammar bases her research on everyday life affected by a constantly shouting alarm saying that if we don’t stop now, there will be nothing left to save. Every image in this work is taken on the small island where the artist and her family lives. The island works as a metaphor of isolation and vulnerability but could also be interpreted as a protected space, a shelter without walls.
