Mellem udtrådte og ubetrådte stier – et praksisperspektiv på forskning i Keld Helmer-Petersens arkiv

Abstract

Inger Ellekilde Bonde: In-between Known and Unknown Paths – Practical Perspectives on Research in the Archive of Photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen

The article reflects on some of the research perspectives contained in the archive of a single photographer. Based on studies of the archive of the photographer Keld Helmer- Petersen, the first part of the article presents examples of readings of material in the archive as a potential expansion of the position assigned to the photographer in the reception history. Here, the archive is understood as a source of a broader understanding of the photographer’s artistic form of expression through insights into both work processes and the artistic environments and movements in which Helmer-Petersen’s archive shows that he participated. The second part of the article is a more critical consideration of how the archive can be understood as a research object by discussing Helmer-Petersen’s role as an archivist, and how the archive also reflects an archiving process that is significant to the structure and organisation of the archive encountered and considered by the researcher.