Princess Christina presents today the scholarship from the Micael Bindefeld Foundation in Memory of the Holocaust at the Royal Dramatic Theatre.
Micael Bindefeld, well-known and respected organizer of professional events, founded in 2014 his Foundation in order to support those who have a desire to communicate, provide information on, photo insert, or otherwise disseminate knowledge to a wide Swedish audience with stories of the Holocaust. Bindefeld donated five million SEK to the foundation. Many of Bindefeld’s relatives were executed at Holocaust. Daniel delivered the first scholarships in 2015, Victoria in 2016 and queen Silvia in 2017.
This year's scholarship is delivered to fashion photographer Mikael Jansson. Foundation's motivation:
The 2018 scholarship is awarded to photographer Mikael Jansson, in support of his extensive portrait series "Witnesses" of survivors from the Holocaust. By depicting the last-generation survivors, Jansson contributes to an invaluable documentation whose mere existence becomes a living proof that makes it impossible for future generations to deny or diminish the Holocaust.
Mikael Jansson is one of the world's top elites of his profession and has for several decades portrayed artists, actors and models to the world's most prestigious magazines. Now he has taken on a completely different project.
During countless journeys through Sweden, Mikael Jansson has met, portrayed and collected testimonies from up to 100 survivors from the Holocaust. In black and white images, the last generation, who experienced the Holocaust, emerges as living witnesses to Nazi's extinction policy. Some of them have told their story earlier. Some of them have not even told their own children. Until now.
With the support of the Micael Bindefeld Foundation, Jansson is given the opportunity to carry out this important project.
- To accomplish this project, meet all these people and hear their stories has touched me much stronger than I could ever imagine. It is so extremely important that what has happened should not be forgotten. Therefore, it feels great to receive this generous scholarship so that I can document this for all future, through pictures as well as movies, says Mikael Jansson.
The project will be seen in an exhibition "Witnesses", displayed at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern from October 2018.
- Mikael has a great way to approach the people he is working with. He gives enormous confidence and then manages that trust. The result of his work therefore always brings images with an unusual deep and strong story. The foundation's board has been in agreement with the importance and value of financing this unique project so that the world can learn from what has happened, said Micael Bindefeld, chairman and initiator of the Foundation.
Jansson's project "Witnesses" receives 400,000 SEK.
» Pressrelease Micael Bindefelds Stiftelse till minne av Förintelsen tillkännager 2018 års stipendiat
Mikael Jansson with Micael Bindefeld in Auschwitz
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeaGVgsnqK3/?taken-by=micaelbindefeld