Two Brothers And Lifelong Best Friends Share Their Final Years In Touching Photos By Elin Høyland

Published 11 years ago

As soon as Norwegian photographer Elin Høyland heard about the two old brothers living together in a tiny hamlet in the middle of rural Norway, she knew it was a story she would like to capture on camera. Little did she know that she was about to enter the beautiful life-long friendship of two brothers spending their very last years in this world together.

The two brothers were Harald (75) and Mathias (80) Ramen, who never got married and spent their entire lives living on the same small farm they grew up on. After outliving their parents and other siblings, it was only the two of them spending their days together.

The brothers had a simple, quiet and calm life. Their main activities consisted of chopping and burning wood, watching and feeding wild birds at least twice a day, and simply enjoying each other’s company and their soothingly remote environment. It’s worth noting that, that in the 60s, they rented a television for a month’s trial, but returned it as it took up too much of their time.

Høyland’s intimate and utterly quiet black and white photography depicts true familial love, caring and closeness. This series evokes fundamental themes of life like our endless search for human connection and our inevitable loneliness in the face of death.

Source: elinhoyland.com (via)

The two brothers, Harald (75) and Mathias (80) Ramen, never got married and spent their entire lives living on the same small farm they grew up on.

After outliving their parents and other siblings, it was only the two of them spending their days together.

Their main activities consisted of chopping and burning wood, watching and feeding wild birds at least twice a day, and simply enjoying each other’s company and their soothingly remote environment.