Backlight Photo Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary and Finland’s 100 years of independence by organizing an exhibition tour of four Finnish photographic artists in Europe.
The tour “Independence Through the Lenses” is realized together with the Backlight Photo Festival and its international partners in Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Latvia as part of the Programme on the centenary of Finland ´s independence in 2017. The artists presented on the tour are Juha Arvid Helminen, Jaakko Kahilaniemi, Harri Pälviranta, and Juuso Westerlund.
Artists discuss the experience of independence and the ways that cultural traditions and memories shape our ways of seeing and looking at ourselves and at others, as well as the freedom of speech and expression, and awareness of options available, which enable polyphonic national and individual identity. At the same time, public discussion and generalized opinions insidiously lower the limits of acceptability, while strengthening controversial power structures. In our desire to act well and right, we end up in a state of confusion where we lose sight of what is fair and how to defend democratic equality and self-determination without being personally pointed at, placed outside, or on the other side. Wariness and fear narrow our common living space. Images here serve as passages between memory and oblivion, between presence and absence, allowing us to imagine what might have happened previously. Roots, independence, and a sense of belonging create comfort and refuge, an emotional bond and an idea of a place you can always go back to.
Juha Arvid Helminen (b. 1977, Helsinki) graduated from Lahti Institute of Design in 2010. His art deals with the misuse of power through the aesthetics associated with it. The carefully composed, subtle photos with covered characteristics arise a questions on what is it to be an individual. The artworks of Helminen have been featured in galleries and publications worldwide.
The Invisible Empire
We want people to be free and independent but it’s hard to understand how, for many, freedom still means to be just like others – especially during rough times. The definition for independence is delightfully difficult. Humans are social animals who learn by mimicking each other. The Invisible Empire consists of armies, royalties and both religious and mystic movements. These aren’t usually associated with independence, but as the opposite: traditions, an individual as a part of continuity and a tightly formed group. Authoritarian movements have often gained power by talking about both the national and personal independence. The pattern familiar from the 1930’s totalitarianisms seems to be slowly repeating itself. Individual independence stands for the freedom of speech, expression, religion and sexual orientation. Still, others lives are controlled by populist and xenophobic movements with increasing popularity. To be able to hold on to the rights we have gained and to guarantee them also to the ones still lacking them, we have to continue the dialogue. This photo series is a part of the discourse.
Jaakko Kahilaniemi (b. 1989, Toijala) is currently studying for an MA in Photography at Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Helsinki. Recent exhibitions include the solo shows 100 Hectares of Understanding, The Finnish Museum of Photography (Helsinki, FI, 2016), Tapiola–The First Act, Gallery Titanik (Turku, FI, 2014) and his work has been shown in art fairs like Vienna Contemporary (Wien, AT, 2016) and in Paris Photo ’16 (Paris, FR, 2016). Kahilaniemi is represented by Gallery Taik Persons in Berlin.
100 Hectares of Understanding
100 Hectares of Understanding is Kahilaniemi’s attempt to understand the 100 hectares area of the forest he owns. His method of working is based on open-minded experimentalism. His photographs are testimonial, traces of his aspirations towards understanding and awareness. Owning a piece of forest land, Kahilaniemi’s project 100 Hectares of Understanding includes both tangible and intangible approaches and visualizations of what forest and forestry mean to him and how the unknown becomes familiar. His work reflects and studies what nature has to offer to urbanized people and is an attempt to create new ways of thinking and ways to experience and feel the forest. 100 Hectares of Understanding brings together the found objects, photographically recorded actions, sculptures and visual secrets he has created.
Harri Pälviranta (b.1971, Finland) is a photographic artist. He holds a Doctor of Arts degree in photography from the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Helsinki (2012). His works has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions internationally, the latest group shows being held at Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, Metropolitan Arts Center in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Germany and solo shows at Gallery H2O in Barcelona, Spain, CFF gallery in Stockholm, Sweden and Tampere Art Museum in Finland. In 2007, he won the prestigious PhotoEspana Descubrimientos award.
With guns one can
With guns one can presents photographic, post-documentary works from the series News portraits, Imprint and Touch. By combining these recent series (2010–2014) Harri Pälviranta faces various, overlapping violent realities: fascination for firearms, the act of shooting as such, school shootings as a globally appearing phenomenon and mediatisation of violence. News portraits depict the perpetrators of some of the most fatal school shootings in the world. Each portrait is constructed of gun and shooting related local news, containing 1050 different news headlines. When it comes to Imprint series, it approaches violence and shooting from a material and performative perspective. Touch, on its part, visualizes the relationship between a man and a gun. Together the series constitute an open yet coloured approach to gun violence.
Juuso Westerlund (b.1975, Helsinki)
Like the heat when you enter a sauna Juuso Westerlund’s images are overwhelmingly intense and weird, sometimes grimly cold, yet warm. It´s the rare kind of photography where you just have to see another one, and another one, and when you think you recognise something you are only thrown into another scene from a daily life situation that you most likely haven´t seen before, at least not photographed. Not like this. The photographs reveal a never ending curiosity and love of people, joy of the absurd and surreal. Never boring.
Jackpot
“I was born into 1970’s Finland. At that time children were taught that to be born in Finland equals winning in the lottery. Jackpot – that’s what Finland was. One of the most educated, most equal, most democratic, least corrupted and most emancipated countries in the world. We are finding ourselves at the border of two worlds. On one hand, we are brought up by a stern, northern, Lutheran and straightforward culture. On the other hand, we are part of a complicated and often frightening, globalizing world. ”One leg in the barn, the other at the tennis court.” Finns are doing the same thing as many others: curling up inwards, fearing the outside world. Nationalism is rising and suspicions against foreigners are becoming more common among ordinary citizens. Jackpot is representing the images of a northern backyard and national characteristics with strange quality. People whose jackpot has gone out of date.”