The exhibition consists of three parts. The first, Hiding Someone, has a group of black and white analogue photographs taken in Lapland in 1992 of two pregnant Finnish women. The women are playing together with each other and the camera while unborn babies are present but hidden at the same time.

The second part is called From the Hiding Place of Consciousness. It was created in 2009 on the basis of analogue color photographs and diapositives taken in 2003 in Spain, in Arenys de Mar, Calella and Barcelona. Ulkuniemi was especially enchanted by the bundles of fishing nets. The nets reminded her of unconsciousness:

”We can see something, but there is a lot that remains invisible. Sometimes it comes up from its hiding place, especially when we are dreaming. Our minds are full of knots, just as nets are.”

Some of the photos are taken in a way accidentally. Ulkuniemi used the same diapositive film twice without planning the order of the shots. She was after a kind of automatism connected with the surrealistic movement. According to Ulkuniemi our mind works pretty much the same way: we don’t always choose our thoughts but associate freely, even surprise ourselves. Only by cropping manipulated double shots show how two things combined give a totally new sight. The reality appears in a different way.

The third part, Hiding a Home, consists of digital color photographs taken in 2011 in Iceland. Ulkuniemi was fascinated by the colorful houses in the center of Reykjavik and especially their windows facing the streets. People create innovative ways to reveal their privacy. They install personal things on display to hide their homes. At the same time they reveal something about the inhabitants’ personality.

Ulkuniemi wanted to construct a somehow strange or odd exhibition entity, something that rejects traditional art museum aesthetics. So she started from first choosing the old family photo frames, and then selected photos matching them and the theme. She was not concentrating so much on the result as on enjoying the creative process. The titles of the works are suggestive, personally meaningful to Ulkuniemi but maybe irrational for the viewer.

The exhibition takes place in the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Francisco Fernández, in Torreblascopedro, Spain. It is supported by Arts Council of Finland, Committee for Photographic Art.

More information:
Dr Seija Ulkuniemi, University Lecturer in Art Education, Faculty of Education / Class Teacher Education, tel. + 358 40 484 41 43, seija.ulkuniemi(at)ulapland.fi