Genius Loci, which means “the spirit of a place,” is a photographic project exploring the unique atmosphere of Assistens Cemetery. Established in 1760, the cemetery is a time capsule in the heart of the city – a place for both the living and the dead. Many prominent cultural figures are buried here. Part of the cemetery remains an active burial ground, while the older sections function as an urban park with lush vegetation. Over the years, people have come here to picnic, celebrate, and live alongside the dead.

With my camera, I try to have a dialogue with the particular spirit that characterizes the place. Sometimes alone, at other times together with others. When I invite people into the project, I seek to experience the site through their senses. Together, and in dialogue with the place, we decide where the portrait should be taken. I work analog, using an old Hasselblad and a vintage point-and-shoot camera.

Photography freezes the moment while at the same time pointing back to something that has already passed. In this way, the project also circles around a kind of memento mori—an image of life and death in one. The slowness of the analog process makes room for the ritual, reflecting the calm and the time of the place, which is emphasized by the dialogue. It is not only my gaze, but a conversation between myself, the portrayed, and the place.

The project is rooted in the very idea of a place. In Roman tradition, the Genius Loci was the protective spirit watching over a place. Today, the term is also used in architecture to describe the atmosphere inherent in a location, often linked to history and traditions. I lean toward the original meaning and imagine that I am collaborating with the spirit of the place.