Collected North : Helsinki School pf Photography in Istanbul.
There are many special moments one encounters in the course of life. Istanbul, New Years Eve 2013 was one of those, for me. It was a place of wonder and myth, misconception and history. In other words a kaleidoscope of cultures and scents, radiating with a vitality I hadn't expected.
This exhibition of works from the Helsinki School was chosen to introduce a sensibility that grows out of the Nordic traditions.
It raises questions of how these artists interpret their relationship with nature, as with Sandra Kantanen, and the measurement of time through self reflection, with the installation of Anni Leppäla.
Sanna Wang captures the sensibility of a culture in transition with her Chinese portraits of people on the verge of domestic displacement. On the other hand, Joakim Eskildsen photographs expose the realities of America below the poverty line, from a series that was first published for Time magazine in 2012.
Pertti Kekarainen's photographs are constructed from the word “Tila” which in Finnish has nine different meanings. How he combines these different spaces into one visual image is a good example of to how use the photographic process as a conceptual tool.
Joined together these five artists represent both old and new voices from the Helsinki School in a mutual dialogue for the first exhibition ever in Turkey.
The Helsinki School grew out of an educational model that was initiated in the mid 1990's in the Photographic Department of Aalto University, School of Art, Design and Architecture in Helsinki, Finland. It has become one of the most recognizable programs of its kind worldwide with over 70 international publications through five generations of artists. More importantly is has been an educational leader in how we perceive, interpret and use the photographic process as the new language of this 21st century.
Timothy Persons
ANNI LEPPALA | Helsinki, 1981
Anni Leppala is a Finnish photographer living in Helsinki. After graduated from Turku Polytechnic Art Academy in 2004, she completed her masters at Helsinki Art and Design University (Aalto University, Art, Design and Architecture. She had several solo exhibitions in important art cities such as London, Berlin, Stockholm, Milano and Munich. In addition to her solo shows, her works have been exhibited in many group shows in New York, Paris, Amsterdam and Tokyo. Her works are in important international collections such as Finland Parlement Collection, Hermés Collection and Deutsche Bank.
JOAKIM ESKILDSEN | Kopenhag, 1971
Joakim Eskildsen was born in Copenhagen in 1971 where he trained with Royal Court photographer, Mrs. Rigmor Mydtskov. In 1994, he moved to Finland to learn the craft of photographic book making with Jyrki Parantainen and Pentti Sammallahti at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, graduating with an MA degree in photography in 1998. He often collaborates on projects with the writer Cia Rinne, and his publications include Nordic Signs (1995), Blue-tide (1997), iChickenMoon (1999), which was awarded Best Foreign Title of 2000 in the Photo-Eye Books & Prints Annual Awards, the portfolio al-Madina (2002), which was made in collaboration with Kristoffer Albrecht and Pentti Sammallahti, and the book The Roma Journeys (Steidl 2007), which has been awarded with the Amilcare Ponchielli Award in 2008, Deutscher Fotobuchpreis (Gold) in 2009, the Otto Pankok Promotion Prize, and the David Octavius Hill-medal awarded by Deutsche Fotografische Akademie in 2009. Joakim Eskildsen lives and works in Berlin.
SAANA WANG | Helsinki, 1979
Saana Wang was born in Helsinki in 1979. She had her first art and design education in Ravensbourne College in England (1999-2000). After completing her bachelor's degree in Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (Holland), she attended the artist residency program in New York, Visual Arts School, Photo Global. She received her master's degree from Aalto University, Art and Design School in Helsinki, in 2013. Her works have been exhibited in New York, Berlin, Paris and St. Petersburg and have been added to museum collections such as Musée de l'Elysée (Switzerland) and Saastamoinen Art Foundation (Finland).
SANDRA KANTANEN | Helsinki, 1974
Sandra Kantanen was born in 1974 in Helsinki, Finland, and studied at the Central Academy of Beijing, graduating in 2003. Her work have been shown in international group and solo exhibitions in Stockholm, Moskova, Berlin, Frankfurt and London. Kantanen has exhibited at numerous galleries and museums worldwide. Her works are included in public collections including J.Paul Getty Museum, (Los Angeles), US Stockholms sjukhem (Stockholm), SE KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki City Art Museum (Finlandiya), FI Olorvisual (Barselona) and private collections in Holland, Denmark, Norway, U.S.A., Kuwait, France, China and Japan.
PERTTI KEKARAINEN | Oulu, 1965
Pertti Kekarainen (1965) is educated at Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki and De Vrije Academie van Beeldenden Kunsten, Den Haag. Kekarainen lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. Kekarainen has exhibited at numerous galleries and museums worldwide, amongst others; Art Basel, Switzerland, Stenersen Art Museum, (Norway) PAC Milano (Italy) and Pori Art Museum (Finland). His works are included in several significant public collections, such as Finnish Museum of Photography, State of Sweden, Deutsche Bank (Germany) Gothenburg Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art (Tampere) Museum of Contemporary Art (Helsinki, Finland) and Telenor (Norway).
CURATOR : TIMOTHY PERSONS | 1954, Norway
Timothy Persons is the curator of Gallery Taik Persons and Adjunct Professor at the Aalto University School of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland. Moreover Persons is the principle architect and leader of the Helsinki School.
Furthermore, he is a senior curator for Kulturhuset in Stockholm and has been Senior Curatorial Advisor to the Danish National Museum of Photography in Copenhagen as well as KIASMA Museum of Modern Art in Helsinki. He lives and works in Berlin and Helsinki.