Katarina Skjønsberg

Be Good To Yourself is the result of Katarina Skjønsberg’s residence in the West Bank. While actively participating in the local residents’ life, Skjønsberg started photographing human encounters and surroundings. The book aims to present our innate need for normality, physical contact, dancing and living – despite extreme and complex situations. Be Good To Yourself continuously reflects on how to respond to such a place, how to relate to the people met. It questions Skjønsberg’s role as a young Western woman, mediator, photographer, and fellow human placed in situations and places distant from her reality back home. The photographs are personal, intimate and relational presenting universal needs, dreams, human escapist nature, and everyday lives.

Be Good To Yourself is the winning book of the Nordic Dummy Award 2016. The prize is awarded annually by Fotogalleriet, Oslo. The 2016 edition receives additional support by the Norwegian Photographic Fund, The Freedom of Expression Foundation Oslo, and the Norwegian Arts Council.