Ani wearing top by Enni Lähderinne, Makeup and hair by Juho Lehiö, 2024

Archival Inkjet print mounted on aluminium, framed

Curtain is a multipart body of work that I am presenting at the BFA exhibition. The pieces I have selected for this exhibition include: a newspaper installation titled Curtain 2; a nearly life-size photograph of one of the curtains in the Armorial Hall of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, which covers the Kuva/Tila gallerys window; a framed gelatin silver print, Calla, a still life that references both classical painting and contemporary photography; and a framed inkjet print, Ani wearing a top by Enni Lähderinne, makeup and hair by Juho Lehiö, referencing fashion photography.

In this project, I use the concept of a curtains, draperies, or blinds as a metaphor for something that distinguishes one thing from another, or interferes with vision and perception in some way. Through various juxtapositions —digital and analog, luxurious and mass-market — I aim to explore questions of hierarchy and social class, both through the images themselves and the materials used, as well as within a larger social context.

All three parts are intentionally installed separately, functioning as independent pieces. At the same time, a small element—a folded corner of the paper—ties them together. This folded corner suggests both the materiality of photography and the layers of reality and perception. When planning the installation and the relationship between the works, freeing myself from the seriality and narrative typical of photography was important to me.

I am fascinated by the interface between the magical and the mundane. The ambivalence of lens-based media—the tension between the documentary and the fictional—is a central point in my practice. In my work, what initially seems obvious is often revealed to be something entirely different, yet equally real. For example, eyes that open or close depending on the distance from which they are looked at. Or a curtain that turns out to be a paper photograph.