INSTAGRAM - Helsinki Photo Festival

helsinkiphotofestival

We are pleased to announce the winners of Nordic V

We are pleased to announce the winners of Nordic Village of the theme Fearless at Helsinki Photo Festival 2021. All selected artists will be exhibited from Jul 7-Sep 30 at the Art Park at Hanaholmen – Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre in Espoo.

More information about the program schedule to be released in the coming weeks.

The international jury of experts congratulates the winners. Helsinki Photo Festival takes place from July 7-September 30, 2021.

Nordic Village is a talent platform fostered by Helsinki Photo Festival to support emerging Nordic photographers. The platform exhibits visual artists from the countries of the north to a broad audience in Finland and internationally. The program includes educational activities with experts and artists from the Nordics.

www.hanaholmen.fi
www.helsinkiphotofestival.com/nordic-village

Open Call winners 2021 – Nordic Village I Fearless

Ingerid Jordal / NO
Maria Konstanse Bruun / NO

Angelika Kollin / EE

Lisa Pram / DK
Marie Bentzon / DK
Anne Lass / DK

Sari Soininen / FI
Jussi Puikkonen / FI

Kicki Lundgren / SE

* Siri Ekker Svendsen / NO
* Linda Bournane Engelberth / DZ-NO

* Rebecca Simons / FI
* Anna Kuokkanen / FI

* Cletus Nwadike / NG-SE

#helphoto21 #helsinkiphotofestival #nordicphotography #denmark #norway #sweden #estland #finland #espoo #hanaholmen #hanasaari #culture

The 50 winners of the theme Fearless at Helsinki P

The 50 winners of the theme Fearless at Helsinki Photo Festival 2021 are selected now. The award winning photographers will be exhibited at various outdoor exhibition sites around the Greater Helsinki area. During 12 weeks exhibition sites will open to the public by July 7, while a few will start later and run until September 30. More information about locations and program schedule to be released.

The international jury of experts congratulates the winners.

Hyvää Vappu! Happy May Day 2021

Felix Schöppner / DE
Matjaz Tancic / SI
Jake Eshelman / US
Alex McBride / UK
Kristen Joy Emack / US
He Bo / CN
Noelle Mason / US
Javier Corso / ES
Natalia Kepesz / PL
Ingeborg Everaerd / NL

Maria de la Paz Gutierrez / AR
Paola Jimenez / PE
Maria Gruzdeva / RU
Gabriele Cecconi / IT
Ryan Carter / CA
R.J. Kern / US
Nikita Teryoshin / RU
Bertha Wang / HK
Jasper Kettner / DE
Alain Schroeder / BE

ilir tsouko / AL
Charlotte Lakits / FR
Laura Pannack / UK
Carla Kogelman / NL
Christian Bobst / CH
Cletus Nwadike / NG-SE
Sabine Findeisen / DE
Carlo Bevilacqua / IT
Tom Price / UK
Katia Repina / RU

Carlotta Guerra / IT
Laura J. Bennett / US
Susana Girón / ES
Rebecca Simons / FI
Alessio Maximilian Schroder / IT-AT
Andrei Liankevich / BY
Peter Pflügler / AT
Cristiano Volk / IT
Siri Ekker Svendsen / NO
Róbert László Bácsi / HU

Arnaud Montagard / FR
Oğulcan Arslan / TR
Thomas Victor & Felix Adler / DE
Jooeun Bae / KR
Linda Bournane Engelberth / NO
Charlotte Mano / FR
Kai Yokoyama / JP
Charlotte Mariën / BE
Sina Niemeyer / DE
Anna Kuokkanen / FI

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto21 #opencallfinalists #helsinki #summer2021

Nordic Village becomes a touring exhibition. 12 No

Nordic Village becomes a touring exhibition. 12 Nordic visual art projects will be exhibited at the biennial Lens op de Mens at Fotofestival Pelt in Belgium. The exhibition can be visited from June 6-September 30, 2021.

Nordic Village is a talent platform fostered by Helsinki Photo Festival to support emerging Nordic photographers. The platform exhibits visual artists from the countries of the north to a broad audience in Finland and internationally. The program includes educational activities with experts and artists from the Nordics.

Now the Nordic Village introduces the next generation of emerging Nordic photographers at the biennial Lens op de Mens at Fotofestival Pelt in Belgium. Twelve nordic visual art projects, which were selected through an open call contest at previous editions of Helsinki Photo Festival, are qualified for the program. The following artists will present two works from their series: BIRGITTA STEEN DK; LAURA KROGH and ANDREAS HAUBJERG DK; MARIA KJARTANS IS; ÓMAR SVERRISSON IS; STIG MARLON WESTON NO; SVITHASETH NO; JENNY ROVA SE; SEBASTIAN SARDI SE; MARCUS GUSTAFSSON SE; HENRI AIRO FI; SVANTE GULLICHSEN FI; MARJA SALEVA FI.

In Finland, Helsinki Photo Festival will open a Nordic Village exhibition on the theme of 2021 “Fearless” from Jul 7-Sep 30 at the Art Park at Hanaholmen – Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre in Espoo. The finalists of the Nordic open call and emerging Finnish photographer Svante Gullichsen will be exhibited. A Nordic seminar with experts in the photographic field will be organised on August 27, 2021. See you and stay safe.

#helphoto21 #helsinkiphotofestival #fotofestivalpelt #belgium #finland #nordicphotography #photography

This year we have received a record number of 428

This year we have received a record number of 428 applications from 55 countries for the open call with the theme Fearless. The association is proud to announce 96 shortlisted candidates who will move further into the second round of voting to decide this year’s finalists. The talent platform Nordic Village announces 20 shortlisted authors. Our jury has been selecting only a handful of winning images out of a total of 5307 submitted photographs. The next step for the jury will be to select the best 50 authors, and 10 Nordic artists, whose photos will be curated and exhibited at the festival from July 7-September 30, 2021.

More detailed info you can find on our website under Helnews!

The most voted artists were:

Linda Bournane Engelberth (DZ-NO) “Outside the Binary" @lindabournane

Gabriele Cecconi (IT) “TiàWùK" @gabriele.cecconi

Javier Corso (ES) “Matagi" @javiercorso

Nikita Teryoshin (RU) “Nothing Personal - the back office of war" @teryoshi

Alex McBride (UK) “Artsakh Strong" @alex.mcbride

Sabine Findeisen (DE) “What We Want" @sabienfindeisen

Natalia Kepesz (PL) “Niewybuch" @nataliakepesz

Cletus Nwadike (NG-SE) “Girls struggle in Nigeria" @cletusphoto

Carlo Bevilacqua (IT) “Queer Divine” @carlo_bevilacqua

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto21 #shortlisted #photography #helsinki #finland

Winner Open Call Nordic Village, Helsinki Photo Fe

Winner Open Call Nordic Village, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
•
Exhibited at the National Museum of Finland and JCDecaux Finland.

Carl-Mikael Ström, Sweden @carlmikaelstrom
Inevitably it will rain

Carl-Mikael’s project Inevitably it will rain is based on a quote by Ludwig Wittgenstein: ”What can be shown, cannot be said” (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus). In this project, he wishes to challenge the idea that photography is a language. Through his work, the author is questioning the viewer by asking: What is in his photographs that can be shown but cannot be said?

According to Carl-Mikael’s belief, how people see and perceive images is a reflection of their cultural knowledge, learnings, language, and life experiences. This is what the artist calls the “logical picture”, for example: If we see an image of an apple, we identify the object as an “apple” within the “actual image”. Anything that we are able to identify within the image he calls a “logical picture”. He suggests that there are two types of images: “Actual images” and “possible images”. The “actual images” depict the subject matter as an object contained within the “logical picture”. This way, he refers to the physical reality of an image: Frame, book, canvas, screen, etc.

Within the above-mentioned connotations lies the question of whether people have the ability to step outside of their limiting minds to reach the “possible images”. “Possible images” are those images that go beyond the “actual image”. They contain surreal elements, poetry and emotions that cannot be properly identified or explained through language or rationality. This is why Carl-Mikael believes that being skeptical about objects within the frame of the image is a prerequisite necessary to consider when viewing photography. Poetry has to be pragmatic to be relevant. There is an isomorphic tension between the photograph and the actual object it depicts. Within this tension for him lies photography’s strength. The photographs presented in his series aim to be seen as a visual mental ladder for the viewer to bridge the gap between the “actual” and the “possible” image.

#helphoto20 #helsinkiphotofestival
#trust

Winner Open Call & Nordic Village platform, Helsin

Winner Open Call & Nordic Village platform, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at the National Museum of Finland, Kaapeli, Tähtitorninvuoren puisto, and JCDecaux Finland.

Laura Krogh & Andreas Haubjerg, DK @_laurakrogh @4ndreashaubjerg
A Question of Honor

On a deserted road in Jutland, Denmark stands a house with an unknown address. The authorities call the residence a “Safehouse”, even though it mostly looks like an ordinary home. It is a secure residence, with surveillance cameras and tinted windows in the kitchen that faces the court. All of this has the purpose to protect a group of teenage girls who have been living in the shadow of their family that has exposed them to threats, violence and suppression. The girls live here because of honour-related conflicts. They were not familiar with this concept before fleeing their families and moving into Safehouse Jylland. But they do know how it feels. The authorities define it as conflicts that occur within close family relations and where the conflicts result from the perception that the honour of the family has been violated. The girls in these families are at risk of forced marriage or abusive punishment in the form of incarceration in the home or physical violence. In the most extreme cases they can be in danger of honour killing. The honour-related girls are torn between the fear of negative social control at home and the love for their family. At Safehouse Jylland they endeavour to create an identity of their own and to live a fairly ordinary teenage life. All girls in this series are anonymous for safety reasons.

“In the safe houses we have experienced firsthand that the girls can rebuild the trust in themselves and reclaim ownership of their own destiny. We are honoured and proud that the girls have shown us their story. As photographers this is the greatest trust you can receive.” Laura Krogh & Andreas Haubjerg

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020! Th

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
•
Various artworks of the artist were exhibited at the National Museum of Finland, Kaapeli, JCDecaux Finland, and Tähtitorninvuoren puisto.

Elizabeth M Sanders, USA @lizmariesanders
Be Here To Love Me

The photo project Be Here to Love Me focuses on Elizabeth father’s struggle with dementia, and the long-troubled relationship between her mom and herself, that has shifted into something more beautiful, each year that Elizabeth’s father remembered less.

The shared sadness that the family carries in loving him has brought about a major transformation. Through photography, they have become allies. Elizabeth’s mother has become both her collaborator and assistant as she photographs, holding the reflector, or coaching her dad as she takes his portrait. He is no longer able to tell stories, and it is through the image that the artist is searching for him, turning to fiction to fill in the holes of his life with her own imagined or altered memories. How else do you locate the personhood of someone who is no longer the person you knew? Through this project, Elizabeth has come to understand the value of process and what the making of an image can do for those in it. The image becomes a talisman that holds the power of their familial exchange. The image is a way to heal.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Liz is a documentary photographer based in Brooklyn, New York, and a graduate of the Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism Program at the International Center for Photography. Liz’s photographic practice focuses on the intersection of tradition and modernity and how that affects individual and collective identities, especially within communities experiencing change. Having grown up an only child to older parents and having very little extended family, Liz has an interest in large family dynamics and intimate family relations. Most recently, Liz has been photographing her own small family, during her aging father’s struggle with dementia, and the complexities of the mother-daughter bond as they re-frame their parent-child relationship and imagine a life without him.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20
#trust

Winner Open Call & Nordic Village platform, Helsin

Winner Open Call & Nordic Village platform, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
•
Various artworks of the artist were exhibited at the National Museum of Finland, Kaapeli, Tähtitorninvuoren puisto, and JCDecaux Finland.

Anna Ellen Hamlet, Sweden @annaellenhamlet
Through Your Eyes I See Universe

Their eyes meet as they are sitting opposite each other for twenty minutes, looking into the eyes of one another, meditating together in silence. The boundary between them is erased. The large format camera is next to Anna Ellen Hamlet, to the left, and sometimes during the meditation she takes a polaroid, but the person portrayed is unaware of when. There is a mutual trust between them. An attempt to capture what is behind the mask of mankind. A need to understand the greater picture. The portrayed live and work at Yandara Yoga Institute in Mexico. They work as yoga teachers, reiki masters, astrologers, musicians etc. This project is photographed during the winters of 2017 and 2018 and collectively includes 23 portraits. Together with the portraits there is a number of guided meditations, mantras and music that has been recorded with the participants. Hamlet has arranged to return to Mexico next winter in order to photograph the characteristic landscape surrounding Yandara. She says it to be a magical place where the dry desert with the gigantic cacti meets the vast beaches of the Pacific Ocean. It is her plan to make a book out of the combination of the portrait and landscape photographs together with the sounds of mantras and meditation.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Anna Ellen Hamlet graduated from Gothenburg Photography School in June 2016. Alongside with photography, she works as a part-time nurse. Hamlet’s pictures are an experiment with the photographic image of mankind and what it means to be alive. “With my photographs, I explore our innermost, myself through others and others through myself. The search for what's behind the mask.” Hamlet

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust #swedishphotographer #yoga #spiritual

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020! Th

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
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Various artworks of the artist were exhibited at the National Museum of Finland, Teurastamo, Cultural Centre Stoa, and JCDecaux Finland.

Alexis Vasilikos, Greece @alexis.vasilikos
Balancing Act

Alexis Vasilikos’ series Balancing Act revolves around the idea of minimum gestures between people and our environment. Gestures that are vital in the construction of trust; vital to life today. His work consists mainly of small and medium format prints. Prints that require intimacy between the viewer and the subject. “Trust is natural to us, it is there by itself, we are trusting life naturally. What comes out of trust, is a sense of balance – trust brings balance and balance brings trust. These two are interconnected.” Christina Androulidaki

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Alexis Vasilikos (b. 1977) is an Athens-based visual artist who works primarily with photography. His work revolves around peripatetic photography, meditation and energetic editing, and is deeply influenced by Eastern mysticism. He studied photography in Athens, at Focus and A.k.t.o. and attended the Art History course of D.A.M.S. in Bologna. Since 2012 he is the co-editor of Phases Magazine, an online publication that showcases fine art photography. He is also represented by CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust #photography #greekphotographer

Do you want to be exhibited in Helsinki during the

Do you want to be exhibited in Helsinki during the summer? Our open call for photographers and visual artist is open now. The theme for 2021 is Fearless. Extended deadline until March 28. Enter now!
https://bit.ly/2Wg7eDH

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto2021 #helsinki #opencall #opencallforartists #fineartphotography #contemporaryart #photography

Winner Open Call & Nordic Village talent platform,

Winner Open Call & Nordic Village talent platform, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!

Theme: Trust

Various artworks of the artist were exhibited at the National Museum of Finland, Kaapeli, Karhupuisto, and JCDecaux Finland.

Reiko Ishida, Japan / Norway @reiko.ish
Isolation

In the Isolation series, Reiko Ishida used photography to investigate her own thoughts connected to isolation. Ishida tries to describe her fear for the unknown, but also her hopes and dreams for the future. For many years she had trusted someone. This mistake has caused her to live in isolation. This series represents the backside of trust.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Reiko Ishida was born in Tokyo 1987, moved to Norway in 1988. She is a classically trained pianist and a self-taught photographer.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust #norwegianphotographer

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020 The

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020
Theme: Trust

Exhibited at the National Museum of Finland, Kaapeli, Pyhän Birgitan puisto, Tähtitorninvuoren puisto, and JCDecaux Finland.

Teodelina Detry, Argentina @teodelinadetryph
Trust

“Trust forms the basis for any relationship. It is something we need to exercise and develop since we are born. Our first learnings come from our parents or loving references. And the success in this learning will provide us with the necessary grounds so as to be able to trust in ourselves first and in others after. Trust others after. And last but not least, we definitely have to learn to trust life! Understanding that it is beautiful but full of unexpected bumps. It will make us feel safe, confident and consequently have more possibilities of blossoming.” Detry

Author biography
Teodelina Detry (b. 1975 in Buenos Aires) studied Art Direction at the Escuela Superior de Creativos Publicitarios. During 1997 she lived in NYC and took several art-related courses at Parsons School of Design. Since then, as a visual artist, she has dedicated herself to painting and photography. In 2001 she studied at Andy Goldstein's School of Photography in Buenos Aires. While living in Geneva, Switzerland (2013-2016), she continued studying with Aline Kundig and Athena Carey and back in 2017 she studied painting with Inés Miguens, Santiago Carrera and Juan Astica. In the USA and France Teodelina took workshops with the French photographer Alain Laboile. In 2017, 2018 and 2019 she exhibited her work with Inés Miguens in collective exhibitions at the Tattersall de Palermo in BA. In September 2019 she exhibited her work with Zona de Photo at BA Photo Fair and October-November 2019 at Mundo Nuevo Art Gallery. Recently, Theodelina published her first photography book titled La Anémona es la flor que se abre al menor golpe de viento (The Anemone is a Flower That Opens Herself to the Slightest Touch of Wind). The photobook was presented to the public on March 7th 2020 at Fundación ArtexArte in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The artist is currently participating in a two-year photography clinic programme at Proyecto Imaginario.

#helsinkiphotofestival #trust

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020 The

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020
Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at Karhupuisto, Korjaamo Culture Factory, Kaapeli, Pyhän Birgitan puisto, and JCDecaux.

Chimera Singer, United States @chimerasinger
Tourists and Landmarks

The urge to document experience is shared across the globe. Tourist attractions are landmarks that are defined and created by the repetition of movement, poses, and of photographs. When looking at images of tourist spaces in friends’ selfies or on billboards, we employ an inherent learned lack of trust in images. Most of us assume a healthy perspective of optimistic skepticism. Unlike early ideas of photography as reality, today we do not consciously see images as the reality of visual experience. Because we all take photos every day, we actively employ methods to “better” our images. We recognize that images of expanse and beauty, like those of Icelandic waterfalls and beaches, are often, though an authentic depiction, created through intentional exclusion. She focuses her camera towards the subjects most often excluded in these photographs: The other tourists and practical man made objects. She documents the tourists, but removes their cameras in order to prompt the questions: How does the act of photographing shape the tourist experience? What do tourists omit in framing their photos? What do these various inclusions/exclusions reflect about humanity and how we document the tourist experience? In another set of images, Singer photographed scenes at landmarks on US Interstate 40. Rather than focusing her camera towards the tourists themselves, Singer is drawn to the objects that tourists exclude from their images. She too admits to omit them. The excluded objects become landmarks in their own right as they become symbols of how we adorn marked "scenic points" as well as how we curate depictions of these scenes through exclusion. With these images, Singer points to our learned distrust in photographs, by creating awareness of the subjects neglected in tourist images.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Singer is a nomadic photographer who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. She works primarily as a commercial photographer.

#helsinkiphotofestival

Do you want to be exhibited in Helsinki during the

Do you want to be exhibited in Helsinki during the summer? Our open call for photographers and visual artist is open now. The theme for 2021 is Fearless. Deadline March 23. Enter now!
https://bit.ly/2Wg7eDH

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto2021 #helsinki #opencall #opencallforartists #fineartphotography #contemporaryart #photography

Winner Open Call & Nordic Village, Helsinki Photo

Winner Open Call & Nordic Village, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
•
Various artworks of the artist were exhibited at the National Museum of Finland, Karhupuisto, and JCDecaux Finland.

Maria Lax @maria_lax_
Some Kind of Heavenly Fire⁣⁣⁣

Maria Lax comes from a small town in Northern Finland, surrounded by a vast, sparsely populated wilderness. Most pass through this town on their way to someplace else, without ever knowing that it used to be a hotspot for UFO sightings in the 1960s. Unaware of this history herself, it wasn’t until she read a book by her grandfather that she learnt of the incredible stories about supernatural events, bravery and the struggle against hardship in what is largely a barren land. Already suffering from dementia, Lax’s grandfather was unable to answer any of her questions, so she went looking for answers elsewhere. Lax turned to the people who had seen the mysterious lights and went through newspaper archives and her family’s photo albums from that era. The UFO sightings coincided with a time of great struggle in Northern Finland. In search of jobs, people flooded from the countryside to the cities, leaving abandoned houses scattered across this harsh, yet beautiful landscape. It is no wonder that the UFO sightings embodied a fear of the future, with the unknown and the inexorable shifts in lifestyles and livelihoods going on in society. Some reacted with fear to the mysterious lights, others took them as a sign that they were not alone.

Maria Lax is a London based photographer, originally from a small town in Northern Finland. She is known for her use of colour and for seamlessly blending reality and fantasy in her work. Lax’s background in cinematography shines through in her strong use of lighting and experimental camera techniques. Her work has been exhibited worldwide and published in The Guardian, British Journal of Photography, WIRED, American Suburb X and Financial Times among others. She was one of the winners of the British Journal of Photography’s Female in Focus award in 2019 and her project Some Kind of Heavenly Fire was shortlisted for the PHmuseum Photography Grant 2020.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020 The

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020
Theme: Trust
•
Exhibited at Kansallismuseo

Elena Kollatou & Leonidas Toumpanos, Greece
@elena_kollatou, @leonidas_toumpanos_photography
Where we do not belong

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has triggered geopolitical disarray in the Baltic Sea and has created Allies and rivalries among the bordering countries. Nord Stream 2 is a project that results in a geopolitical disarray, since the business between Germany and Russia has the potential to profoundly impact the Central European geopolitical scene, challenging the security of many European countries and deepening economic inequality among them. Eastern European, Nordic and Baltic countries consider that the pipeline will make the EU reliant on Russian gas and thus giving away too much control to Russia while destabilizing Ukraine by depriving the country of gas transit fees; at the same time Northern Europe and Germany believe that the economic benefits outweigh this issue. With this controversial project as a motive, Elena and Leonidas departed on a journey along the Baltic coastline in order to reveal the secrets, trace the bonds and track down the conflicting matters that this Sea holds. The findings were simultaneously concrete and vague; non-descriptive situations represent the quotidian space of the people that inhabit these countries and who act as political mediators between East and West. Layering different realities in a single image imparts this ambiguity, since the individual depictions only fragmentary succeed in representing the real. Ripped images are constructing a visual tale and inviting the viewers to draw their own conclusions.

Author Biography
Elena Kollatou & Leonidas Toumpanos are a photographic duo. Their practice focuses on investigating energy and society related topics, researching a project in depth before proceeding to making pictures. Together they explore the possibilities of representation and our relationship to reality, approaching subjects with a fluid documentary style, following varied ways of production and process-based interventions with the aim to raise questions to the viewers.

#helsinkiphotofestival

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020 The

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020
Theme: Trust
•
Exhibited at The National Museum of Finland, Pyhän Birgitan puisto, and JCDecaux.

Shinwook Kim, South Korea @shinwookkim_
In Search of Nessie

The project In Search of Nessie began with the question of where and how such stories began and how they might affect real life and culture. Loch Ness, a huge lake dating back to the Ice Age in Scotland's northern Highlands region, is also a mythical place that is widely known around the world that there could be a dinosaur-like creature Loch Ness monster informally named “Nessie”. A photograph of a mysterious creature, which began in 1934 as a prank by a surgeon named Robert Wilson, triggered a long-standing mythological element in Mother Nature as the target of consumption and distribution. There are records in the Guinness Book Records for searching Nessie for 30 years as a self-proclaimed “Nessie Hunter”. While another man Adrian Shine for researching for the Loch Ness and mysterious creature over about 45 years.

Shinwook Kim does not intend to look for Nessie's real existence but he desires to uncover how the invisible myths permeate an actual place and create a variety of devices designed to imagine it through the surrounding landscape, characters and various archives. Through this work, he intends to find the elements of a myth that are created, spread, propagated, and maintained in a particular place. Shinwook hopes to reveal fragmented images and disrupt the way it operates in order to find out how it gives meaning to a particular place and through what processes. What makes a story (a myth) and how is it maintained and operated?

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Shinwook Kim is an artist based in London, Milan and Seoul. He holds a BA degree in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London and MA degree in Fine Art Photography from Royal College of Art, London. Shinwook has been exhibited internationally. His works are held in permanent collection at the Kiyosato Photo Art Museum in Japan, SPACE22 in South Korea and Oriel College, University of Oxford in the UK and many more.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust #photography #koreanphotographer

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020 The

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020
Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at Kansallismuseo, Korjaamo Culture Factory, Kaapeli, Pyhän Birgitan puisto, and JCDecaux.

Elise Corten, Belgium @elisecrtn
Warmer than the sun

Warmer than the sun is an ongoing process of Elise Corten documenting her mother. She uses the camera as a pretext to redefine maternal intimacy and trust. By depicting her mother’s daily rituals, Corten looks into who she is, not only as a mother but as a person. These pictures portray her willingness to reveal herself to her daughter in regard to emotional and physical changes. The work balances between personal and universal; exposing mother to daughter, daughter to mother and self to self. Through the collection of these photographic portraits, still-lives, and landscapes, an intimate monograph of a mother-daughter relationship is woven together.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Elise Corten (b. 1994) is a Belgian photographer. She received a BA from Luca School of Arts in 2018 and is currently working on multiple photographic series, whilst finishing her Master’s degree. Her work primarily explores themes of intimacy and connection through long term documentary projects. Her work has been shown in various international publications and exhibitions.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust #photography #fineartphotography #belgianphotographer

Winner Open Call for emerging Nordic Talent, Helsi

Winner Open Call for emerging Nordic Talent, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at Nordic Village at The National Museum of Finland and JCDecaux Finland

Tomas Olsen, Finland @tomasolsen_
Inanimate

The Inanimate project reflects on the control humans have over their own surroundings. The project consists of a series of small installations of plants, documented through photography. These installations are reflections of pain and cruelty. This aims to show that what is harmful to our surroundings is harmful to us humans. We are a part of our surroundings. We are one.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Tomas Olsen (born 1995, Helsinki, Finland), is a still life and portrait photographer. Curiosity and experimentation are the core foundation in his creative work.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust #photography #thenordicvillage #emergingartist #kansallismuseo

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ALL OF US

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ALL OF US NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE!

A big thank you to all the artists, visitors, supporters and partners for an eventful year despite an unpredictable situation in 2020.

The National Museum of Finland has just shared the great news that over 17 000 visitors have safely experienced our photography exhibitions in their summer yard this year! That figure though does not include all the thousands more who have seen the exhibitions in the streets, digital billboards, venues and parks around Helsinki.

Also, we are very happy for having such great friends and supporters: in less than 3 weeks our recent digital magazine publication Helsinki Photo News was read over 1600 times in more than 30 countries!

We look forward to new exhibitions and projects in 2021!

#kansallismuseo #helphoto20 #helsinkiphotofestival #helsinki #finland #retrospective #exhibitions #fineartphotography #photography #emergingtalent #valokuva

We are proud to announce that our website has been

We are proud to announce that our website has been overhauled and includes now info to all exhibitions and projects from 2018-2020.
Enjoy exploring!

https://www.helsinkiphotofestival.com

#helsinkiphotofestival #website #artists #photography

Helsinki Photo News out now! After an amazing thi

Helsinki Photo News out now!

After an amazing third edition of our annual photo event with the theme TRUST, we have been working many weeks on documenting all exhibitions and events from this summer. We are now releasing the very first issue of HELSINKI PHOTO NEWS with 90-pages on issuu available for free. The magazine is in English, but also includes Finnish translations of all exhibited artists.

https://issuu.com/helphoto/docs/helsinkiphotonews2020

Enjoy reading our first issue!

#helsinkiphotofestival
#helphoto20 #helsinki #photography #kansallismuseo #explore #magazine

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020! T

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at The National Museum of Finland, Cultural Centre Stoa and Korjaamo Culture Factory

M'hammed Kilito, Morocco @mhammed_kilito
Among You

Among You reflects the choices around personal identity for Moroccan youth through a selection of portraits of young people who take their destinies into their own hands. These individuals have the courage to choose their own realities, often pushing the limits of society further. Whether it be through their creative activities, their appearance, or their sexuality, they convey the image of a young Morocco - alert, changing, claiming the right to be different and celebrating diversity. These young people, whose minds embody the resistance of a palm tree – a tree adapted to the harshest Moroccan climatic conditions – defy the conservative and traditional norms of Moroccan society on a daily basis. They cultivate their private oasis despite the obstacles they encounter in a country that they feel is not progressing at the same pace as they are, and inspire others along the way.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
M'hammed Kilito (b. 1981) is a photographer based in Rabat, Morocco. He has worked in different parts of the world, with a focus on Morocco. As a documentary photographer, Kilitos addresses issues relating to cultural identity and the human condition. In 2020, he became a National Geographic Explorer, received The Photography Prize of the Fondation des Treilles and is nominated by World Press Photo for Joop Swart Masterclass. The same year, he also shortlisted for The CAP (Contemporary African Photography) Prize. He is an alumnus of the Eddie Adams Workshop (2019) and a Magnum Foundation/AC/Prince Claus Fund grantee (2018). He is a contributor of Everyday Middle East and North Africa, a collection of images that convey a more accurate view of daily life in the MENA region than what is commonly seen in the media. His work has been shown at festivals and venues including the Sharjah Art Foundation (Sharjah), Tate Modern (London), Addis Foto Fest (Addis Ababa) and PHotoESPAÑA (Madrid), among others.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20

Winner Open Call and Nordic Village, Helsinki Phot

Winner Open Call and Nordic Village, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!

Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at Kansallismuseo, Korjaamo Culture Factory and Kaapeli

Mogens Kjoeller, Denmark @mogenskjoeller
Fragments

Trust is an essential part of our lives, especially if we have to focus on other basic elements than to simply survive. If we experience too many uncertainties, we get stressed. If too many elements are being questioned, we will get paralyzed. We need to put the puzzle back in place and might choose unsubstantiated beliefs. We live in a time with more information than ever before. In order to handle this overload of information we have had to introduce new terms, such as “alternative facts” and “fake news” into our vocabulary. In addition to this information overflow, we are experiencing a new uncertainty in the form of a virus, physically real, transmitted from person to person. This “new normal” has been downplayed by some and dramatized by others. It has led to conspiracy theories and breaking of trust, further than on a personal level, as we have also lost trust in our society. Will we ever get back to normal or is this the new normal? Beautification, simplification and selection is the nature of an image. This project uses the photographic medium in its original analogue form to consider the acceptance of an image, obviously showing alterations through cutting. An image always consists of fragments, manipulation and exclusion on the presented. For this project the consideration of parallels between an image and trust is part of the objective.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
After working within strategies, planning and change management for several years, Mogens Kjoeller decided to follow his longstanding dream and went into fine art photography. He received a Post-Baccalaureate in Photography from Massachusetts College of Art & Design in Boston and completed a Master’s degree in Photography Arts at Westminster University London in 2019, tutored by Prof. Davis Bate and Dr. Lucy Soutter. Kjoeller’s work has been exhibited in Boston and in London, and will be shown at Incheon Marine Media in August this year.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust #photography

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020! T

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at Kansallismuseo and Kaapeli and Pyhän Birgitan Puisto

Carrie and Eric Tomberlin, United States
Sea Level Rise: Visualizing Climate Change

It is difficult to trust what one cannot see. Scientists implore us to act now to stop climate change from destroying the planet, but data is invisible and change is slow and does not impact everyone equally. Having photographed environmental issues for many years, Carrie and Eric find the images of climate change to be limited due to the gradual and elusive nature of the problem. For several years they have been working on a new kind of photography the artists call time distillation. This new paradigm allows them to collect a range of time and collapse it into panoramic space which they later distill into a singular allegorical narrative that has the potential to express a more complex story than a singular photographic image. This process parallels environmental issues in that it is the accumulation of time that reveals the gravity of the situation more clearly than any individual moment. To best visualize this issue, Carrie and Eric traveled to Bangladesh, which is considered by the international scientific community to be amongst the world’s most vulnerable populations to the effects of climate change. Though Bangladesh faces seemingly insurmountable challenges, they are not merely coping, but adapting with resilience and ingenuity utilizing community - based adaptations. In doing so, they provide an example of taking action on a local, national, and international level to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. Much of what Bangladesh is learning can be applied to other highly populated areas at or near sea level such as Miami, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Amsterdam. Carrie and Eric’s ultimate hope is that better visuals will lead to greater trust and therefore action.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Carrie Tomberlin teaches photography and visual culture at the University of North Carolina Asheville where she serves as Gallery Director and Lecturer of Art. Eric Tomberlin is a freelance photographer and educator.

#helsinkiphotofestival #trust

Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020! Theme: T

Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at Sörnaistenlaituri and The National Museum of Finland •

Silke Koch, Germany
Suspicious Objects

At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, fingerprints and a computer-saved photograph were taken for the data stock of the U.S. immigration authorities upon arrival. A few days later, several bombs were detonated in London, followed by a worldwide chain of suicide bombings. In the New York City Subway, people and their luggage were being checked, because of a mere suspicion. In the streets, there were objects, with no apparent owner nearby. But are they suspicious, too? Who or what makes these objects suspicious? A (photo) documentation or a conspiracy?

Hans Magnus Enzensberger describes the apocalypse as a “catastrophe in the mind”, due to its overwhelming multitude of images. In her artistic work, Silke Koch deals with public space as a place of social representation and questions its suitability for the foundation of identity. "If you see something – say something" is a slogan that keeps New York’s citizens alert to the feared bombing of unattended suitcases, backpacks and other objects with the alarm level 'orange' (highest warning level). Tracking this warning, a photographic collection of suspicious objects/ sculptures was created according to guidelines listed on the internet. The photos depict (presumably) unattended objects and 'document' them, following a system of registration – the objects are given a number, description and location. The phenomenon of Covid-19 has parallels to the slogan, "If you see something – say something". This is paradoxical, as viruses, unlike (supposedly) unattended objects, are not visible to the human eye. In case of both events, the location of situation-based trust is a public space. Thus, the public space becomes the venue of scenarios that call our trust into question in an unimaginable way.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Silke Koch (b. 1964, Leipzig) studied Photography at HGB Leipzig from 1993-1998 and in 2003 she finished her Master’s degree Since 2014 Koch teaches a photography class at Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig.

#helsinki20

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020! T

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at Pyhän Birgitan Puisto, The National Museum of Finland and Korjaamo •

Alex McBride, @alex.mcbride United Kingdom
South Sudan: The Road to Peace

Independence freed Sudan from Anglo-Egyptian rule in 1956, and it was a yearning for independence that spurred 50 years of civil war between the north and south of the country soon after. Then in 2011 this same yearning gave birth to the world's youngest nation, South Sudan. It wasn't long, however before the infant country descended into a civil war of its own in 2013. Ethnic tensions between the ruling government's Dinka tribe and the opposition's Nuer boiled over into bloodshed, which, by the time a ceasefire agreement was hashed out in 2018, had left some 400,000 dead, and millions more displaced from their homes. In February of this year the two sides formed a unified government, with President Salva Kiir now having appointed his civil war rival Riek Machar as his First Vice President. The armies which they lead against one another are to be united as one national army. The tribes they represent which inflicted unspeakable atrocities upon one another in wartime are now to form the society slated to join hands in building a sovereign state together. With a history steeped in rivalry, the odds are stacked against the young nation, and so it is trust that lies at the heart of whether a country can rise out of the ashes of its past or regress once again into flames. Having been taken since the signing of the revitalised peace agreement between the government and rebel opposition in 2018, these photographs map out South Sudan’s tight-rope walk to a new peace, and a people's unwavering determination to attain the freedom that they envisioned in the formation of a new state: A dream first conceived some 60 years ago.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Alex McBride is a freelance photographer covering political, social and humanitarian issues in East Africa. He is currently based in Juba, South Sudan.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust #photography #eiranranta #documentaryphotography

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020! T

Winner Open Call, Helsinki Photo Festival 2020!
Theme: Trust
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Exhibited at Sörnaistenlaituri and in Korjaamo and with JCDecaux Finland •

Robin Alysha Clemens @robinalysha, Netherlands
Yo soy otro tú, tú eres otro yo

Mexico is a country that has embraced, accepted, challenged and fought various traditions and religions throughout its history: Starting with the indigenous rituals of the Mayans and Aztecs, then Catholicism imposed by the Spanish colonists to the various cultural influences from Africa and from Latin and North America. While the majority of Mexicans identify as Catholics, the influences of indigenous customs and animistic traditions prior to the colonization are still present today. Mexico is a country where different mystical and religious traditions blend and mutate against a backdrop of a complex political and social history. Yo soy otro tú, tú eres otro yo is a portrayal of the Mexican people and their faith. Photographer Robin Alysha Clemens travelled to Mexico to meet, interview and photograph over 60 believers: Curanderos (spiritual healers), shamans, Catholics, Buddhists, nuns, brujas (witches), supporters of Santa Muerte (Our Lady of Holy Death), spiritual midwives, videntes (seers), new age spiritualists, artists and indigenous people like the Nahua, Seri and Yaqui. Focusing on the diversity of contemporary spirituality in Mexico, this project explores the unseen and unveils the underlying similarities between these spiritual practices. Clemens looks beyond the altars, icons and religious symbols, to capture the people behind these beliefs.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Robin Alysha Clemens (1992, NL) is an Amsterdam based photographer whose work revolves around subcultures and exploring different worlds. Her work visualizes scenes where identity and a sense of place are omnipresent. As a storyteller she is inspired by cinema: She creates theatrical images where light, or more often the absence of light, is most important. Her work has been exhibited during the Dutch Design Week, Photography Festival Naarden, Melkweg Expo and in TETEM, among others.

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #trust #photography
#emergingtalent #helsinki #finland

Winner Open Call • Helsinki Photo Festival 2020

Winner Open Call • Helsinki Photo Festival 2020 • Trust • Laura Liverani, Italy @liveranilaura • Fukushima Surfers • Exhibited in Kansallismuseo

The series Fukushima Surfers focuses on the surfing community in Fukushima, Japan. It consists of posed portraits on location, observational and landscape photographs. The photographer Liverani is interested in exploring how the surfing community is reshaping and reclaiming post-disaster Fukushima beaches. Before the tsunami and triple nuclear meltdown in 2011, and before being forever associated with radiation and disaster, the coast of Fukushima, meaning “Good Luck Valley”, was known for its beautiful beaches and high waves. It was a surfers’s paradise, ranking among the best surfing spots in Japan. After the trauma of the tsunami and nuclear meltdown, surfers had to regain their trust for the ocean that had killed their loved ones and destroyed their homes. It is said that the surfers were the first ones to return to the Fukushima beaches.

www.lauraliverani.com

http://helsinkiphotofestival.com/⁣

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #photography #festival #photographyexhibition #exhibitionsinfinland #helsinkiart #contemporaryart #taide #kunst #artfestivals #trust #fineartphotography #discoverhelsinki #helsinki #kansallismuseo

Our outdoor exhibitions at the National Museum of

Our outdoor exhibitions at the National Museum of Finland ends Wednesday, September 30th. Also, you can explore exhibitions in Kallio, Eira, Ullanlinna and Kalasatama. Just check for more details the area map at our home page. #kansallismuseo #photography #exhibition #helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #thisisfinland #helsinki #finland

Winner Open Call • Helsinki Photo Festival 2020

Winner Open Call • Helsinki Photo Festival 2020 • Trust • Nuno Serrão, Portugal
@nunoserrao • In Between • Exhibited in Kansallismuseo

Nuno’s blank slate starts with a functional level of emotion, logic, minimalism, and curiosity. The artist considers these to be his metric system. Curiosity often leads Nuno to document frameable micro-narratives that, in the end, will pose a whole new set of questions.
With the sum of all relatable questions, he thinks he’ll get an answer.

“Equilibrium is a state in which all competing forces are balanced. I don’t think such a thing can exist in perpetuity, neither does the universe, or there wouldn't be one. I’m interested in what happens in between all opposing sides, dark versus light, good versus evil, past versus future, happiness versus sadness. It’s in this space that I find most of my inspiration.” Serrão
***

Nuno Serrão is a Portuguese photographer, filmmaker, and creative director, interested in the dialogues between science and contemporary art. Each of his images considers how information is handled, shared and perceived, framing scenarios as micro-narratives, demonstrating a sensitivity and a curiosity for the planet and its inhabitants (Kate Simpson, Aesthetica Magazine, 2019).

www.nunoserrao.com

http://helsinkiphotofestival.com/⁣

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #photography #festival #photographyexhibition #exhibitionsinfinland #helsinkiart #contemporaryart #taide #kunst #artfestivals #trust #fineartphotography #discoverhelsinki #helsinki #kansallismuseo

Winner Open Call • Helsinki Photo Festival 2020

Winner Open Call • Helsinki Photo Festival 2020 • Trust • Christian Bobst, Switzerland⁣
@christian_bobst_photography • The Sufi Brotherhoods of Senegal • Exhibited in Kansallismuseo
⁣
In Senegal, 95 percent of Muslims belong to a Sufi Brotherhood, more than in any other Muslim population in the world. For Sufis, peace and tolerance are important values, spirituality and closeness to God are more important than dogmas and strict adherence to religious rules. Senegal has never experienced an attack in this age of international terror in contrast to its neighbouring countries such as Mali or Mauritania. The West African country is regarded as an anchor of stability. This has a lot to do with the trust of the Senegalese people in their religion and their spiritual leaders.

When tribal leaders called for the raising of arms against the French, during colonial times, Cheikh Amadou Bamba Mbacke (1853 - 1928), the founder of the Sufi Brotherhood of the Mourids, taught his numerous followers that the true Jihad is not war by force of arms, but the fight against inner demons. Even today, most Senegalese are fervent supporters of Bamba's pacifist teachings. The Senegalese engage in a strong personality cult around the founders of their four largest Sufi-brotherhoods and their descendents. While saints are a taboo in most Islamic countries, the names and portraits of the founding fathers of the Sufi brotherhoods can be found on the lettering of colourfully painted buses, as posters in shopping centres and textile factories, on almost all taxis. Although Senegal has a secular form of government, Islam is much more than a religion in the country. It is a lifestyle that permeates the entire society. The Sufi Brotherhoods of Senegal photo essay shows how the Sufi Brotherhoods and their religious leaders shape Senegalese society and how they maintain power and wealth, but also peace and stability in the country by relying on a tolerant form of Islam instead of dogmatic rules and oppression.⁣
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www.christianbobstphotography.com⁣
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http://helsinkiphotofestival.com/⁣⁣
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#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto20 #photography

Another clip from our media geeks. Enjoy the show

Another clip from our media geeks. Enjoy the show and visit our outdoor exhibitions around Helsinki until September 30th, 2020.

http://www.helsinkiphotofestival.com/helnews

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#photography #exhibitions #visitfinland #myhelsinki #discoveryfinland #outdoors #exhibitiondesign #trust #architecture #helsinki #finland #fineartphotography #katutaide #multimedia #art #drone #karhupuisto #kallio @maria_lax_ @fotografiepolak @cop_shiva_ @leonidas_toumpanos_photography @anton_artoffoto @chimerasinger @kamil.matziol @tomatwoodphoto @maslovsaslov

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