Literature

Krass Clement (b. 1946), is an autodidactic Danish photographer, living and working in Copenhagen. Graduating with a directing degree in 1973 from Danish Film School, he soon after returned to photography which he had practiced in his youth. Since publishing his first book Skygger af øjeblikke (Shadows of the Moment) in 1978, Clement has become an active documentary photographer, focusing on people from both Denmark and abroad. Starting out in black and white, he has persisted in developing and modernising his artistic expression so that his practice today also includes work in colour.

HIs seminal series Drum (1991), photographed in an Irish pub on a single evening with only three and a half rolls of film, is now considered one of the most important contributions to the contemporary Danish photobook. Revolving around one principal character - a hunched, weather beaten old man who sits alone with his drink, Drum comments on community, the outsider, alienation and the terrors of being alone. From the text that accompanies the images in the book, the reader is informed that the bar was the meeting place for local Protestants in what is otherwise a predominantly Catholic region.