Talk about a full house at the Saab Car Museum last Saturday during the opening of the photo exhibition "Roger & Saab." Visitors came from near and far, and the creator himself was visibly moved by the massive reception.

"A fantastically pleasant event that aligned with everything this team has achieved," summarized Roger Lärk on the opening day.

By "team," he referred to everyone involved in realizing the exhibition, and two of these – curator Peter Bäckström and operations developer Mikael Granberg – were present during the opening and shared some insights into the work.

Before the exhibition was officially declared open, Lärk received not only flowers but also a scale model of his personal favourite model of all categories – a Saab 96.

"A completely fantastic exhibition"
The exhibition consists of 92 pictures of Saab-related events, often with people rather than the car itself in focus, taken by Lärk for the local newspaper TTELA (formerly Trollhättans Tidning). When it now opened to the public after a long period of preparation, many took the opportunity to absorb the rather unique image material.

One of these was Sten-Åke Lyngstam, former head of the Volvo Museum in Arendal.
"A completely fantastic exhibition where the moments are captured in an incredible way. It is the people who built the brand and the cars. This really comes through in the exhibition," he said.

Former colleague
TTELA's former editor-in-chief Torbjörn Håkansson worked with Roger Lärk from 1983 and for 25 years forward, so he has followed the photographer's work closely.
"So much fun that the pictures are exhibited like this, they are incredibly good and I hope lots of people will see the exhibition," said Torbjörn.

Peter Fässberg works just a very short stone's throw from the Saab Car Museum, and besides owning both Leissner Data and Gotanet, he is also a person with a great interest in local history.
And he praised "Roger & Saab."
"Fantastic! Many memories come back, and several of these stories I did not know," said Fässberg.

"Few are privileged"
Another visitor was Ann-Britt Olsson, who never worked at Saab but still very much felt the company's ups and downs.
"My husband and I ran a kitchen furnishing store, and when things went badly for Saab, it was noticeable among the customers, and vice versa. I think the exhibition is very nice, so interesting to see the pictures and read what is written about them," she said.

Towards the end of the day, when most of the visitors had left, Roger Lärk tried to gather his thoughts. Many impressions were channeled into two concise sentences:

"I am very grateful. Few are privileged to experience something like this. "

The exhibition will be shown at the Saab Car Museum throughout 2025.

Text & photo: Jonas Myrholm