Ditte Haarløv Johnsen

I travelled to San Sebastian for a two week residency; In & At, invited by the then European Capital of Culture.

Two weeks away from my family for the first time since giving birth to Mikkel 2 1/2 years ago – and 8 months pregnant. San Sebastian is hot and humid and I’m longing for the rain. I drink strong coffee at the cafés and wander the city in search for the cracks where light gets in. I let the river guide me. I walk through the big park on the hill, below the highway (on Sundays the Latinos have their gathering there) and along the river. That’s where I meet the family with the twins, the Brazilian transsexual and the clandestine boys from Algeria. And then there is the nun; Maite, the superior mother. I have to photograph her with a table between us, as she never crosses the line to the material world that I live in. And yet she is more feminist and politically aware than most women I know. When we say goodbye she blesses me, my son and my unborn child.

2016.