" I am always looking for presence. Whenever I try, my doubts get unmasked..."—JH Engstrom

JH Engstrom's Trying To Dance series comprises a photojournalistic 'diary' of his life: landscapes, still-lives, self-portraits, and snapshots of friends become loosely narrative documents, recording not only the artist's individual experiences, but a sensitive and provocative engagement with the world at large. Using photography's ability to capture the fleeting essence of a moment, Engstrom transfers specific time and place to the unfixed reference of memory. Engstrom's work was featured in Issue # 190 of Aperture Magazine.

Aperture is pleased to make available this very special portfolio of three works from this series, first published in book form by the Swedish publisher Journal. Engstrom's work will be included in an exhibition at the 40th anniversary of the Recontres d'Arles photography festival in France, which has been curated by Nan Goldin—contemporary photographers, work in the word of the artist "that touches me emotionally, that I identify with".

JH Engström was born in Sweden in 1969. He spent time in Paris and other parts of France during his childhood and adolescence. He was an assistant to photographer Mario Testino 1991 in Paris, and 1993 assisted photographer Anders Petersen in Stockholm.

In 1997, he graduated from the Photography and Film Department at Gothenburg University. The same year he published his first book, Shelter (Bokförlaget DN, 1997)

In 1998, he moved to Brooklyn, New York to work on his project Trying to Dance. In 2001 Engström returnes to his native region, Värmland to finish the project. The finalized book Trying to Dance (Journal, 2004) was short-listed for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2005. He exhibits continuously internationally and is held in collections both in Europe and the US. Other published books by Engström are Haunts (Steidl, 2006), CDG/JHE (Steidl, 2008) and From Back Home (together with Anders Petersen, Max Ström, 2009)