Mirage, 2023

A mirage is an optical illusion caused by the bending or reflection of light that splits into different layers of air at different temperatures. A mirage can sometimes make us see things beyond the horizon, or it can create a mirror image of a landscape moving upside down in the air.

The tradition of landscape photography, born in the 19th century on the west coast of the US, has strongly influenced the imagery of the idea of ​​freedom and infinity, romanticized unknownness, the feeling of not belonging and encountering nature. This longing for freedom is also present in travel narratives appearing in Americana folklore, familiar to us through art and pop culture, where protagonists move through the American West in their pursuit of some greater goal.

The exhibition Mirage examines the illusion and dream of freedom built within the landscape concept. In her work, Emilia Pennanen considers what the mirage contains and what the 'landscape' consists of. The work explores the tradition of landscape photography born on the west coast of the US in the middle of the 19th century, where the landscape is portrayed at a distance from the viewer. 

The starting point for the work is a three-week road trip to the states of California, Nevada and Arizona that Pennanen made at the turn of 2019-2020. During the trip Pennanen photographed and studied the places she encountered on the way. She focused on photographing the part of the landscape that is often left out of focus and distanced in classic landscape photography. This meant photographing the ground, the vegetation, the foamy waves and the sky. Pennanen's aim was to get closer to the experience of being in a place physically and to make works that would adapt to the overall essence of the place, which exceeds the limits of human vision.

Through presence, touch and the trace of the photograph, Pennanen has reconstructed parts of the places and moments she encountered. At the same time, she has made her own interpretation of pictures, songs and stories about the landscape. The end result is fragmented: the landscape unfolds as a multidimensional and immersive place that is sprawling and always in motion. The works form a landscape with water bodies, land, wind, sunsets, the sun, human and more-than-human traces. At the same time, they are interpretations of the experienced places and landscapes. 

In the exhibition, photography plays a role in building connections with the sensory features of the places in the final, experimental sculpture works. Pennanen has structured the images based on the places characteristics, such as the silence and the dryness of the desert, the warmth of the earth, the iconic silhouette of the Joshua trees, the diversity of the sea with its various life forms, the mountains by the Pacific Ocean, the concrete walkways in Yucca Valley, the attention-seeking billboards by the highways and the sand-covered mountains of Death Valley. The titles of the works are poems, they are playful and descriptive.

The exhibition consists of sculptures made through various image production techniques and a sound work. Different variation of the exhibition have been exhibited previously at Mältinranta Art Centre (2022) and V1 Gallery (2021).

The Art Promotion Center has supported the artist's work and the exhibition preparation process.