The works on display in the exhibition form a single entity. In the pictures, man and man’s actions are repeated in different ways. Although the exhibition does not actually deal with portraiture, you can see Ranniko’s interest in the history of portraiture in the works. For the current exhibition, he has disassembled the portraits into parts. Often, a hand has been picked from them and presented in different ways. The hand appears in the pictures as helping, receiving and supporting.
Magic, sleep and Surrealism emerge from the works as strong pictorial experiences. The colors of the works support a dreamlike experience. They are dark and bluish or light and worn, intriguingly alienating. The superimposed pictorial motifs build worlds that can only be encountered in dreams, when the subconscious processes and structures what is experienced. In the portrait of a young woman, the fetuses of twins in the womb are placed on her chest. Looking at the work, the existence of fetuses becomes a feeling. Into worlds of different emotions that we carry in our hearts. The snakes wrapped around the woman’s head are like her fragile mourning cloth. The beauty and harshness of life take shape in pictures.
Flora, fauna, eyes, hands and man in the midst of them compete in the imagery of the works. Likewise, the cycle of life and experiencing it. The pictures are poetic dream pictures that allow you to experience sleep during daylight hours. Ranniko’s interest in history is strongly reflected in the subjects of the pictures, as they are not contemporary images. The silent information conveyed by the pictures is palpable, as long as you dare to surrender to it. Turn things upside down a bit and open your palms in the air, looking to see if a butterfly flutters lightly into the air. With many eyes multiplying at the same time to look at the sky and wonder.
– Ulla-Maija Pitkänen
Jaana Rannikko is a visual artist and photographer working in Helsinki. In his works, Rannikko deals with humanity, the layers of time and place, and the stories and networks formed by them. Recurring themes in his work are the wonder, mystery and silence of the image. In her work, Rannikko combines the drawings and photographs she finds and makes herself using digital means into multi-layered, collage-like and superimposed works. Rannikko graduated with a master’s degree in art from Aalto University’s/School of Art and Design’s photographic art education program in 2010.
