Halfdan’s brief sanctuary

“During corona I began going on daily walks around the cemetery and I noticed how being away for an extended period of time allowed me to observe the garden in a different light. I was immediately drawn to the young people hanging out there and the connotations of mortality tied to the cemetery”

Meet photographer Halfdan Venlov. The artist behind A brief sanctuary, which opens at Arden Asbæk Gallery 26 May, is seeking optimism in the everyday in his poetic and personal photographs.

His photographs document and ponder over the life and still life at Assistens Kirkegården – Copenhagen’s celebrated churchyard-turned-city park – with portraits of the young people inhabiting the beautiful, atmospheric and historical space, the flowers and the gravestones of the many notable and less notable Copenhageners resting there.

Hear him talk more about his practice and photographs in the video below and check out his exhibition and artist talks at Arden Asbæk Gallery here