Atlantica - 01.09.2000, Qupperneq 12

10 A T L A N T I C A
FUNNY OLD WORD: SOAP
One doesn’t usually credit the Germanic barbarians with introducing the
delights of hygiene to the Greeks or Romans, especially after seeing the grub-
by hordes in the opening scenes of Gladiator. But soap is the startling excep-
tion. Soap was unknown in Athens and Rome during the classical period – for
once, the Greeks didn’t have a word for it. The Latin word sapo was a late bor-
rowing from Germanic *saipon, (later Old English sape, thought to be related
to sipian, to drip). But what the Germanic tribes referred to as soap had little
to do with the foamy, perfumed bars that we associate with the word today.
Soap is first mentioned by Roman author Pliny as a noxious goo used for
dying the hair of men and women red, in proto-punk fashion. The loanword
sapo therefore meant “hair dye” or “pomade” in Latin. It has since passed into
most of the other European languages.
Some time during the long roll of centuries, the nasty cochineal mess that our
ancestors dipped their heads in evolved into the suds which wash whiter
today, and spawned a whole raft of bad advertising, not to mention soap
operas (so called because they were originally sponsored by soap manufac-
turers). Those Teutonic tribes have a lot to answer for. VC
Renowned Norwegian photographer Petter Hegre, a former assistant of
Richard Avedon, has published a book which gives us more than just a
glimpse into his private life. My Wife is a highly personal book since
Hegre has used photographs of his own wife, taking pictures in settings
all over the world. The extraordinary images, of a young woman in
various stages of undress and inti-
mate positions, are of an eroticism
intensified by the profanity of every-
day situations. The photos, snapshots
taken with a camera worth no more
than a hundred dollars, are totally
natural, there are no poses; these
photos are not staged.
Hegre fell head over heels in love
with Svanborg, his future wife, when
she posed for him as a model. She
became an obsession, and he took
photographs of her relentlessly. ”For
me it is a way of saying that I love her,
worship her.”
Edition Stemmle published the book
world-wide in August, in over 40
countries. Hegre’s exhibition, “My
Wife”, will open in the Erotic Art
Museum in Hamburg in October and
from there will travel to Amsterdam,
Barcelona and New York.
And how will their respective families react on seeing the book?
“If someone makes a move, everybody in Reykjavík knows about it. So
when this book comes out, everyone is going to know.”
Hegre feels that in photography and art you should not think much
about what other people say. “We are proud of the book because we
think we are privileged, for having experienced this kind of love.” AMB
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AN ICELANDIC WIFE EXPOSED
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