Lisbet Nielsen’s seven-year polaroid project captures the end of childhood

Siggie is a collection of tender photographs, a mother’s eye on her beloved teenage daughter from the age of 12 until she leaves home at 18

25March 2021

Over a period of seven years in the 1990s, fine art photographer Lisbet Nielsen took polaroids of her daughter, Siggie, documenting the transition as she moved through her teens and inexorably towards adulthood. Mostly smiling and obliging, sometimes stormy and indomitable, she’s captured posing and camera-ready as well as in more candid, unguarded moments. The setting, the season, the view from the windows of their Aarhus apartments change and Siggie dips in and out of view of the camera, a little more grown-up every time she appears.

Gathering these portraits together, Nielsen’s new photo book, Siggie, shares a tale about transformation, the passing of time, and the inevitability of change with all its poignant wins and losses.

“Interiors, the girl, and the views become a story about existence in time and the changes created by time,” writes poet and translator Malene Engelund in the book’s haunting epilogue. “All the while a mug remains red and steaming, and an easter table, dressed in yellow hope, awaits its guests.”

“We sense time as a still moment when we are locked into the individual photograph, and we experience its dissolution when we bear witness to the girl’s transformation,” Engelund writes. “Despite the immediacy of the polaroid medium – the moment is developed instantaneously – the collective moments play out in a space that stretches over a seven-year period.“

Siggie is a moving and complex collection of images, hinting obliquely at the exquisite heartache and joy present in this intense relationship between mother and daughter. It’s a heart-wrenching, life-affirming, and devastatingly poignant tribute to youth, motherhood, and growing up. As Siggie’s girlhood gradually gives way to womanhood, we see a child move through adolescence, taking our leave when she herself is happily on the brink of becoming a parent.

Below, Lisbet Nielsen takes us through a selection of her favourite images from Siggie, and shares fragments of intimate memories and recollections connected with the moments in which the photographs were taken.

01 / 14

Siggie, 12-years-old (1995)

“I took this photograph an early morning in our flat in Studsgade. Siggie is absorbed in a magazine. I’m probably making breakfast and my eyes caught her white bathrobe against the blue kitchen wall” – Lisbet Nielsen

02 / 14

White lilies in the kitchen, Studsgade (1995)

“I bought the Polaroid camera in 1994. When time stood still or when a golden or cool light spread over interiors and views, I took out the camera” – Lisbet Nielsen

03 / 14

Siggie, 13-years-old, in her favourite strawberry sweater

“Siggie’s beloved sweater which she bought herself. The poster on the wall is entitled ‘Le Dejeuner’. The name Siggie was coined by her father and I, inspired by David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust” – Lisbet Nielsen

04 / 14

Siggie wearing her zigzag-top and flower skirt (1996)

“Siggie looks in the camera for a short moment before carrying on with her own things” – Lisbet Nielsen

05 / 14

Back yard in snow, Studsgade (1997)

“The camera captures the snow and our back yard. It’s a wonderful feeling of creation to stand with the Polaroid in your hand, to see it develop and take shape in minutes” – Lisbet Nielsen

06 / 14

Siggie, 15-years-old in front of a Björk poster (1998)

“She listens to Björk and Prince after school” – Lisbet Nielsen

07 / 14

Living room, one-bedroom flat, Studsgade (1997)

“The loudspeakers are a gift from a former boyfriend of mine. The small TV is in black and white. In the back yard, the yellow walls were peeling and old cobblestones lined the ground. The area was known as the Latin quarter. The freedom of living in a cheap flat” – Lisbet Nielsen

08 / 14

View from the 8th floor (1999)

”A winter view from our new place in Langelandsgade. Everything is bigger now. Especially the view. The balcony had big sliding windows. In clear weather, you could see the ocean” – Lisbet Nielsen

09 / 14

Spring time view with red tulips (1999)

”The curtains in Langelandsgade were made of Indian cotton cloths in various colours. Siggie had black curtains in her room and a colour TV” – Lisbet Nielsen

10 / 14

Easter table in Møllegade (2001)

”The blue curtain has become a table cloth. The table is set for three. The guest is unknown” – Lisbet Nielsen

11 / 14

Siggie, seven months pregnant, sleeping on sofa, Møllegade

“She is so happy” – Lisbet Nielsen

12 / 14

Sunlight through orange curtains (2002)

“The living room in Møllegade. Spring awaits” – Lisbet Nielsen

13 / 14

Siggie, eighteen years old (2002)

“Siggie wearing her teddybear pyjamas pants. She likes her growing belly” – Lisbet Nielsen

14 / 14

Siggie, with red sofa and red top (2002)

“Siggie’s eyes meet the camera. Soon after she will leave home” – Lisbet Nielsen

00 / 14

Captions translated by Malene Engelund. Siggie by Lisbet Nielsen is published by Disko Bay and available here from March 31 2021