Emilia Pennanen is a Helsinki based artist working with photography, sculpture and sound.
In my artistic work, I aim to decentralize the representation of the one point perspective in the photographic tradition. After photographing, I develop and print images on variable three dimensional materials. My purpose is to express the fragile relation to truth in photography, as well as the power contained in photography, which can simultaneously objectify and alienate its viewer from the image.
I use soft, hard, living and inanimate materials such as silk and chiffon fabrics, wood, concrete, silicone, plaster and scoby, to finalize photographs into their final sculptural forms. These materials distance the photograph from the moment it is taken and with its hapticity builds a new image. Materiality brings the memory of something seen back to life, it transforms the photography into something living.
Recent exhibitions
2022 upcoming Art Centre Mältinranta Studio, Tampere, Finland (solo)
2021 Almost there , V1 Gallery in Espoo, Finland (solo)
2020 Unfold , Finnish Museum of Photography in Helsinki, Finland
2020 Kinship Photogram, Untitled Festival, Demos Helsinki, Finland
2019 Hatching, Kosminen, Helsinki, Finland
2019 Sun sets over your, Asbestos Art Space, Helsinki, Finland (solo)
2017 Der Greif: Thread Count, Unseen Festival, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2017 Expectations: A Feminist Video Screening, Lillstreet Loft, Chicago, IL, USA
2015 Tidal Swell, EMP Collective, Baltimore, MD, USA (solo)
2015 Academy 2015, CONNERSMITH., Washington D.C., USA
2015 Commencement Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, USA
2014 Chasing Down The Pour, George Washington University, Washington D.C., USA
2014 Lightweight, EMP Collective, Baltimore, MD, USA
Education
2018–2022 MA in Photography, Aalto University School of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland
2013–2014 Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, Maryland Institute College of Arts in Baltimore, MD, USA
2011–2012 Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Photography (Honors), University for the Creative Arts, Rochester, UK
Available for commissions & collaborations:
e.a.pennanen(at)gmail.com
Full CV upon request.
