The photographs in the exhibition are produced in a work-shop held in the Iceland Academy of the Arts and led by Doctor of Arts Mari Mäkiranta and Doctor of Education Outi Ylitapio-Mäntylä.

Through the process of storytelling and discussing the photographs students produced new images. New images, photographs and narratives were based on the pictures students selected from their personal files under the heading “place”.

The exhibition provides the perspectives in the process of socialization and how people participate in social and cultural practices. The images rise up the questions of multiple voices and identities, power relations and ethical issues.

The exhibition provides one way to understand the meanings and changes of lived experiences in certain places. The place has been conceptualized both as a concrete and mental reality. People shape the meanings associated with the places through their actions and deeds, as well as the places shape people. In the exhibition the students and teachers share their ideas of the place with the viewers.

The method used in the work-shop is named the photo-related memory-work and has been applied by Mari Mäkiranta and Outi Ylitapio-Mäntylä.

In addition, Mäkiranta and Ylitapio-Mäntylä gave lectures on photo-related memory-work and ethical issues related to it during their visit in Reykjavik.

Mari Mäkiranta works as university lecturer in visual communication at the Faculty of Art and Design and Ylitapio-Mäntylä as post-doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Education.

For further information, please contact:
Mari Mäkiranta, mari.makiranta(at)ulapland.fi, tel. +358 400 840 579
Outi Ylitapio-Mäntylä, outi.ylitapio-mantyla(at)ulapland.fi

Useful literature:

Ylitapio-Mäntylä, Outi & Mäkiranta, Mari (2010). From Past to Present – Photo-related Memory-Work and New Images in Educational Practices. In: Tradition and New Practices in Art Education. Malgorzata Bielecka (ed.) Jan Kochanowski University of Humanities and Sciences: Kielce.

Mäkiranta, Mari & Ylitapio-Mäntylä, Outi (2010). Researching personal images – The methodological questions of ethics and power. In International Society for Art through Education. European Congress, Rovaniemi, Finland 21—24 June 2010.