The model was unable to come, and since there was time and the light was excellent, I became my own model. Over a period of two days, I photographed a series of self-portraits with pieces of coral. Later, a photographer friend of mine selected a photograph from the series, saying it resembled the painter Helene Schjerfbeck’s self-portraits. And so the picture became an homage to this artist who died around the same time that I was born. I have always felt that her art, and even her life, followed a course similar to mine. For both of us, poor health was an incentive instead of an obstacle. 

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