CATO LEIN

CATO LEIN was born and raised in Northern Norway, moved to Stockholm in 1980 and has worked professionally as a freelance photographer since the mid-90s.

Over the years, Lein has made a name for himself with his national and international author portraits. However, in the latest exhibitions and also in the latest book Nortern Silence, he moves freely in different types of landscapes and urban environments, but still with his strong signature as a black and white analogue photographer. In parallel with his freelance assignments, Lein works at his own projects, which have been compiled and presented in both books and exhibitions. These projects are multi-year, as he likes to let them take shape and develop over longer time intervals. His book about the poet Tomas Tranströmer and the Baltic Sea – The Poet and the Baltic Sea – will be published in autumn 2024.

“In 2002, I had an exhibition at Hedengren’s bookstore in Stockholm with my author portraits. The founder and former director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Stockholm, Dan Shafran, came to the exhibition. I was asked if I wanted to start a collaboration with them. The assignment was to photograph writers and poets in Romania, but also those who came to visit Stockholm. Through a scholarship from the Institute of Culture, I received a list of writers and poets and their telephone numbers. I packed my bag and there were three trips to Bucharest and meetings with writers and poets in Stockholm. Many of these I have photographed several times and they are and remain my friends.”

Cato Lein, 2024