Britt Liberg shot by Liv Liberg
Photography Liv Liberg
Model Britt Liberg
Interview Florence Tétier
Copy editing Anjelica Angwin
I took these photographs of my younger sister Britt. All images were taken between 2002 and 2019. This is an ongoing project.
— Liv Liberg
Do you live with your sister?
No I don’t! She just moved to Antwerp and I live in Amsterdam. We only lived together when we were younger, with our parents.
How often do you see each other?
Now that my sister moves a bit less, normally I would say once a week at least. But at the moment maybe once or twice a month.
How did this project start and why?
The work started when we were much younger, I was about ten and she was six. The archive kept getting bigger over the years, but now, more than 15 years later I finally decided to revisit it and continue working on it, really create a project out of it. I started photographing my sister because we loved dressing up in our mother’s clothes and she was always there to be my model, at home and outside. It started more as child’s play or us imitating fashion photography, and grew into something more serious and continuous.
Was she always happy to be your model?
To be fair not at all, I think a lot of her intense faces come from her being fed up with me or bored of being my model over and over again, but maybe this is a good thing? I think I could – and still can–be quite controlling as an older sister and she was sometimes moody when I wanted to photograph her. But, I know she loves the work we've made together (and continue to make), so it’s give and take – more or less!
Do you consider her your muse?
Yes, definitely! She has always been and probably always will be. I think I never even realised this so much until about a year ago. I can photograph her in a way I can’t do easily with any other woman.
Speaking of which, do you like photographing other women?
I do, very much. When I was younger and starting photographing I also shot a lot of my close friends and have some of which are in archives still that need digging through! I still photograph other women, but I am just focusing on the one, my sister, right this moment. I've also photographed my mom quite a lot, and this is something I want to start doing again.
Do you randomly take pictures of her or do you schedule specific moments to shoot? What is your process?
It really depends, sometimes we are together and we just take some photo’s and grab some clothes and take photos and other times I have a more specific idea and we make a shoot day out of it. Mostly we shoot quite fast and spontaneous though.
Although, I love the kind of shoot I did for Novembre in Norway; going somewhere together for a few days to shoot, travel, experiment and be in a new environment with a bag of clothes and props. On the other hand being at my parent’s house also always works really well, since that is where it all started; the autobiographical element in my work is something important.
Is this a project you want to do forever?
I think so, yes! I don’t think I will ever stop photographing her. I am now in the process of making a book of the work that I created up till now, but I don’t think the project will just stop after that. It is something that will become stronger after more time passes.
Do you have a story for one picture in particular? Do tell!
The image on the top right here was actually taken under a sun bed, which I don’t think a lot of people would know! We had a sunbed at home, why I still don’t know, but for us it became this strange location (and lighting) for this weird shoot. After that I think we spent a few weeks only shooting under the sun bed. Britt could only keep her eyes closed of course, which made the whole thing quite strange.
Which one of your pictures is your favourite and why?
The image on the right would be my favourite right now, although that changes a lot! To me it has all the elements that belong in my work; her strong expression, the fancy clothes of my mother, the way we did the "glamorous" make-up, the light that splits her in half. There is something about this image that says it all and something that is still hidden, and I love that. This is something I am trying to evoke in the other images as well, but sometimes is hard to grasp.
What are your upcoming projects?
I am planning to finish the book around the summer of 2020, so I am in the middle of editing and but also shooting new work with my sister now. After that a new project will arise I’m sure! In the meantime I would love to also shoot with my sister for magazines, work with interesting stylists and give the project a bit more of a platform before the book is finished.
