Emilia Pennanen is a visual artist from Helsinki, Finland. She works with photography, sculpture, text, and sound. In her recent practice, themes of the representational qualities of landscape photography intertwine with notions of the sacred and femininity.
Artist statement
The starting point of my artistic process is in photography, from which I continue working by printing and developing images through analogue and digital methods on to natural materials, such as, silk, gypsum and wood, which will further develop into sculptures. In my multi-material works, I draw on personal material and literature to explore themes such as landscape photography and nature, the interconnectedness of haptic visuality and memory, and the embodied experience of feminine desire and the body. Experimentation and methods that push the boundaries of photography are at the heart of my process. I am guided by intuition and constant curiosity towards sensory and material properties of a landscape, a memory, a touch. With my work I want to expand the view of the photographic imprint. I am curious to explore what happens in the transformation of a photograph developed into a material that is not fixed and static, but haptic and alive. Through experimentation I seek to trace back experienced moments, places or connections more vividly to their emotional and physical essence and origins.
Ongoing and upcoming
28.8.–19.9.2026, Maastatullut ja veteensyntynyt (Petrichor), HAA Gallery, Helsinki, FI (solo exhibition)
18.7.–14.11.2026, Ligada à Terra e transportada pela Água, Paços Galeria Municipal de Torres Vedras, Torres Vedras, PT (solo exhibition) Curator: Ana Anacleto