MA Photography

Hannele Peltorinne
Jahanzeb Haroon
Johanna Saine
Kanny Wu
Lumi Tuomi
Mia Felić
Nat Setthana
Nikolas Palonen
Sadhbh Lynam
Saedeh Doostbekheir
Santeri Kuisma
Vinayak
Yufan Lu

Fri:

Dipoli Gallery, Otakaari 24

Aalto University
INTRODUCTION
This exhibition brings together the artistic research of Aalto Masters stu-
dents majoring in photography at the department of art and media. Re-
flecting the expanded practices in the field of photography, the projects
and concepts are rendered in light, time and matter at Dipoli gallery.

The constellation of thirteen works may emanate from individual practices,

yet the experiences and perspectives of internal reflection, distance, (dis)
connection, journeys and returns can be seen connecting the exhibition.
The title, which alludes to a common expression for those who are akin,
alike, or aligned, flocking together, recognises both the collective act of
spatialising multiple works, and the connections formed between artists
and practices during the course of shared studies.

Of a feather… conjures the essence of synchronization and syncopation,

where divergences in movement in proximity to one another, renders
new dialogues and rhythms in the works. Notions of origin, dislocation,
liminalities, and olfactory and aural senses fill the space exploring the
dynamics of memory as matter for (re)construction, gender identity, the
body in culture, trade, production, diaristic notation, environment, ritual,
family, early childhood and technology.

The medium of photography expands to include sound, moving images,

sculpture and text offering complex and interwoven perspectives.

Edel O’ Reilly,

Curator, Aalto Exhibitions

HANNELE PELTORINNE
PRESENCE

Presense is an olfactory installation in three glass vessels. Feel free

to open the vessels and inhale the scent slowly. The piece is created
using silk fabric infused with fragrant smokes. Scents are created by
burning historical plant material used in sacred rituals in different cul-
tures around the world.

WASTELAND VIGILS

Photography series Wasteland Vigils was created using plant samples

collected from a former wasteland of Iso Huopalahti, that used to be
one of the biggest wastelands of Helsinki. The nature has taken over
the polluted area, but the soil is still waiting to be cleaned up from 3,5
million cubic meters of debris.

Hannele Peltorinne (b. 1980 in Pori, Finland) works between installa-

tion and photography. The starting point of her works is often plant
material collected by the artist from nature or botanical gardens, which
in the works takes on the role of a temporal information carrier. She
also explores scent memory and creates olfactory installations from
natural materials.
JAHANZEB HAROON
IF ONLY THE PRESENT WAS PERMANENT

Runtime: 00:22:12

This work is an exercise in escaping a mode of functioning defined by

a consumerist way of life. It is a redirection of attention from capitalistic
structures towards nature. A change of pace from a perpetual assault
of images, designed to make us consume, towards the neutrality of a
natural site. It is a search for redefinition.

Jahanzeb Haroon is a visual artist from Pakistan, currently pursuing a

master’s degree in art & media at Aalto University, Finland. Haroon’s
work is part of Lines in the Sand: Contemporary Art from Pakistan
(Fabrica) as part of Luciano Benetton’s Imago Mundi collection. He has
displayed at Siena Art Institute, Siena, Italy and Antidote Art, Dubai,
in addition to numerous shows in Pakistan.
JOHANNA SAINE
SHADOWLAND

In Shadowland Saine has collected, combined and modified images

of different shadows from her cycling trip in Finnish countryside last
summer.  

Shadows create constantly moving, transforming and fading images.

They exist and are present all the time. Still, the shadows are somehow
not quite “here”, rather in between - but what?

Visual artist and photographer Johanna Saine (Tampere, Finland) works

with the topics that somehow relate to both wandering and wondering.
A walk in the woods, a long journey, or small detail in surrounding
nature can be the starting points for her artistic practice.
KANNY WU
UNCLASSIFIED

Photography and image art: Wu harnesses the visual power of pho-

tography to capture moments that encapsulate the intricate connection
between humanity and nature. Through their lens, Wu documents
the human form in various settings, often juxtaposed with the natural
environment. These photographic compositions serve as windows into
the intersection of the real and the imagined, offering viewers a visual
journey into the coexistence of the two.

Wu incorporates elements of mixed media to create pieces that tran-

scend the conventional, crafting surreal compositions that challenge
the viewer’s perceptions and provoke thought about the harmonious
and sometimes fantastical relationship between these two realms.

Central to Wu’s artistic philosophy is the exploration of the intersection

between fiction and the natural world. This is a space where reality
and imagination merge, where the human body can be transformed
or reimagined in conjunction with the elements of nature. It’s in this
intriguing space that the artist’s work thrives, encouraging viewers to
contemplate the dynamic interplay between the known and the fan-
tastical in our relationship with the environment.
LUMI TUOMI
ČILU

Čilu means fragment in Livvi-Karelian language. The project examines

girlhood within a Karelian family, exploring it through the personal loss
of cultural traditions and experiences, whilst imagining manifestations
and utopias of Karelian girlhood.

In Tuomi’s self-portrait, they investigate their experience of giving up

girlhood in their teenage years due to hair loss, alongside the discovery
of their family’s Karelian heritage not until adulthood. The portrait of
the artist’s mother reflects back to her childhood in an evacuee and
war invalid family, and growing up in a time when Karelian heritage
was not talked about.

The works investigate the building of cultural identity through inherit-

ed clothing, textiles, and objects from Tuomi’s Karelian grandmother.
Within the works, fragmented memories and fiction intertwine with
real events and the present moment. With care, the artist maintains a
distance from the real experiences of their family; like gazing at hazy
recollections through red window panes.

Lumi Tuomi is a Finnish-Karelian visual artist. They work with photogra-

phy, textile and hair-based works, and is inspired by the intersection
of handcraft and fine art.
MIA FELIC
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF

Video (06:48), silver gelatine print

‘Cis’ is the term arriving from Latin (cisapline) meaning ‘on the same
side as’ and is used in contrast with ‘trans,’ meaning ‘on the other
side of.’

The work explores the transgender and non-binary body in transi-

tion through the 19th century photographic process mordançage.
Mordançage utilizes tremendous chemical pressure to alter the silver
gelatine prints, causing them to undergo a slow, gradual transfor-
mation. The tissue of the body and the print breaks: a new life, new
forms emerge.

Mia Felić (b. 1993, Čakovec, Croatia) is an anthropologist and visual

artist based in Tallinn, Estonia where she studies Contemporary art at
the Estonian Academy of Arts. Currently she is studying photography
at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture as part
of exchange studies. In her art practice she is mostly interested in
lens-based medium, particularly alternative photographic processes
and experimental film.
NAT SETTHANA
UNDER ARTIFICIAL LIGHT

What causes insomnia? Anxiety? A chemical imbalance? Artificial light?

Or simply the interaction of all factors?

The work explores the phenomenology of insomnia. A light tube, a

projection, a photograph, and structures are arranged as elements
within a specific site, a permutation from incalculable factors, that
seeks to shed light on the complex dynamics at play in sleeplessness.
It is an exposition of light, of illusion, of illumination, and of its illness.

Nat Setthana is a Bangkok-based visual artist, born in 1995. He has

an undergraduate degree in Communication Design and a master’s
degree in visual communication from School of Architecture and De-
sign, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. He was also
a member of Yeast, Multimedia design team, practicing experiential
design and immersive installation. His practice focuses on experiment-
ing with photographic and moving image installation.
NIKOLAS PALONEN
CHILDHOOD RE-ARRANGED DE-ARRANGED

I remember family holidays at the end of the 90s, small moments,

scenes. When I contemplate this, what can I, or am I really recalling
and what is conjured as false memories. My memories are collective,
they are made up of the stories I’ve heard other tell, the photos I’ve
seen and others’ recollections. To me, they are all one and the same,
memories are not linear, they are a network.

Artificial intelligence functions by processing the source material or

data set given to it in the training phase, and creates models by com-
bining what it has learned, mixing things together creating new nar-
ratives. What is original and what is genesis begins to blend, creating
something that is not true, yet it is also not untrue.

Does the idea of the past change through the dialogue with AI?

Nikolas Palonen (b. 1993) is artist fromTampere. His primary focus on

his work lies in experimental documentary photography. In his work,
he strives to break the conventions of traditional documentary pho-
tography and explore new avenues for storytelling. He is intrigued by
emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and its application
in photography. However, he is attracted to the nostalgia for an analog
childhood he has experienced. In his work he aims to merge the latest
technological tools with traditional analog methods.
SADHBH LYNAM
IS THE GRASS GREENER WHERE THE SNOW MELTS?

The cold snowy landscape mirrored the pace of my old life. Suddenly
the realisation dawned; despite the promise of happiness, I struggle
with the rigidity of Nordic life. Within the safety of Nordic culture, I
still feel trapped. Trapped in a systematic routine where any deviation
from the norm is unthinkable.

I miss the freedom of island living: the bus never being on time, a late
night walk home. I’m not sure why I miss wasting time, random mischief
and forbidden miles. Is the grass greener where the snow melts? I aim
to explore the similarities between the winter darkness and isolation,
currently mirroring my feelings towards Ireland. I long to establish a
deeper understanding between distant yet strikingly similar places,
focusing on the complexities of hyperlocal perspectives, and migratory
shifts, that reinforce questions associated with Irish identity.

Sadhbh Lynam is an Irish contemporary visual artist whose work is

rooted in Documentary Photography. The work frequently address-
es overlooked emotional and social issues such as traumatic experi-
ences, mental health, grief, and photography as catharsis. Sadhbh’s
work comes from an introspective viewpoint which mainly focuses on
psychology, anguish, sentimentality, and cultural identity, expressed
visually through the metaphorical.
SAEDEH DOOSTBEKHEIR
FRAGMENTED ECHOES

My father had a habit of destroying family photos, a peculiar ritual to

get rid of the weight/gaze of the past. It was his method of erasing
the life he wished to forget, a life he sought to deny ever existed. As
a child entwined in that life, his actions left a profound effect on me.
Perhaps, in choosing photography, I subconsciously sought to coun-
teract my father’s actions, to preserve and reconcile the fragments of
the past that he tried to erase.

“I`m four. Walking with Mom and You...”

It is my earliest memory. Like a puzzle, this memory has evolved over

the years, each piece adding new depth and meaning. Through glitch-
ing photographs, I am destroying this puzzle and reshaping it with
every recollection. By weaving this memory into the digital codes of a
photo/memory of my father, I try to confront and release him.

Saedeh Doostbekheir is a lens-based artist. Her work explores themes

of memory, familial history, and identity. She utilizes various photo-
graphic techniques and explores the narrative potential of the pho-
tographic medium, with a strong focus on personal narratives. She
incorporates historical records from archives into her artistic practice,
and her artistic interests relate to issues of personal and public memory.
SANTERI KUISMA
BURN OUT / SLOW DOWN / RECOVER

I wake up to my alarm at 6.50 am. Halfway through February the

amount of sunlight is nonexistent, so my body refuses to acknowl-
edge it is time to get up and start the day. The iridescent flashes
caused by someone’s perfume on the tram on my way home refuses
to leave me be. It takes over half of my peripheral view, fleeting away
from the corner of my eye, only to return an hour later. My body feels
like it is failing on me – I can’t leave the house like this. I lay on the
floor to slow down time, as if it would help it pass or transform. I fall
asleep.

Burn out / Slow down / Recover consists of an hour-long video and a

sound loop. Both are to be seen/listened to at the pace of the viewer
– whether experienced in its entirety, or only for a minute.

Santeri Kuisma (b.1994) is a Finnish visual artist. His works revolve

around themes of memory, family history and subjective sensory ex-
periences. The works often combine photography with other medi-
ums, such as sound and moving image.
VINAYAK
TENDENCY FOR TERRACE TRADE, 2024

Mixed media installation

Books, objects, zines
Varying dimensions

Every rendezvous with the photographic demands an exchange, a site

of trade in a world shaped by it. The notion of trade here is explored
in an expanded plural sense through the photobook as an installation
in space. In the book using photographic images of people, places,
things and the trope of the open road photo book, a fictional tale is
rendered along an imagined trade route. Photographs spill out of the
book into zines that act as extensions and further onto a cart which
carries it all. Spatial installation becomes a space for multiple tenden-
cies for trade to coexist.

Vinayak (he/him) is a visual artist his research-based practice leans

heavily on material explorations, collective action, politics of archives
and knowledge building. He is primarily engaged in investigations
about the medium of photography itself, its possibilities, fallacies and
promises that are dissected and explored mainly through the photo-
book object but not limited to it.
YUFAN LU
BONFIRE

Flames kindle with a thermal camera. Twelve people’s dancing hands

meet on the fabric screens in midair, touching, tickling and embracing
each other. Visitors are invited to walk inside the arms, and get lost
in the system of photography stands, projectors, wires and screens.
The fabric screens are digitally fabricated into shapes that resemble
a screen seen from 360-degree perspectives. Each shape represents
a frame extracted at consistent time intervals, but arranged randomly
in the installation.

Yufan Lu sees herself as a photographic and performative person. Her

work zooms in and out on photography’s relation with body and society,
providing in and more often out-of-focus perspective on how people
produce and consume images as a way of living, thinking, feeling and
remembering. Paradox is her passion, as well as what her Chinese
name’s meaning implies.
EXHIBITION TEAM

Academic advisors:
Donald Weber
Niko Luoma
Petri Juntunen

Curator:
Edel O’ Reilly

Exhibition design:
Petri Juntunen & Edel O Reilly

Graphic design:
Nat Setthana
Hannele Peltorinne
Santeri Kuisma

Technical support:
Jahanzeb Haroon
Nat Setthana
 PRODUCTION SUPPORT

Aalto PrintLab
Aalto Studios
Aalto Takeout
Aalto Lobby Services

SUPPORTED BY

Aalto Public Art & Exhibitions

Department of Art and Media,

School of Art, Design and Architecture

KONE Foundation