The book is based on a diary found on the barren and desolate South-Atlantic island of Ascension in 1726. The diary was found to belong to the solider Leenert Hasenbosch, who one year earlier was left as a prisoner on the island as a punishment for sodomy. The diary contains detailed descriptions from the first day of his arrival until the last day of his life, six months later. The book was brought to England and has since been published in several versions; the story has through time been fabricated and twisted several times.
The work presents photographs from a trip to Ascension Island, accompanied with the original diary; a constellation of documentation, culminating in an overall feeling of distance and displacement, questioning our idea about history, not as fortified facts, but as possible fiction.
The work is also being shown at the exhibition Shifting Focus at Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin from 14th July, and a Norwegian book launch will be held at Bodø Kunstforening 28th Aug.
The book is funded by Arts Council Norway, Norwegian Photographic Fund (Nofofo) and Norwegian Visual Artists Association .