Batch44

Finally, after a lot of trouble, our publication Batch44 was launched last night. The book showcases the final work of 44 of the students from my year. I actually think it looks quite cool. Here’s the three spreads I have in the book (sorry about the poor picture quality, but I’m no product photographer):

P.S. If your in Helsinki tomorrow, go to the Hel Looks Weekend and hear Siru talk about Out of Fashion, the other publication I’m involved with (I know, I still need to post pictures of that…).

Welcome

As I’ve mentioned before I’m involved in two different publications as a part of my final project and I’ve promised to get back and write about them later, so here comes some info about the other one.

One of the projects I’m involved with is called Out of Fashion. It’s a fashion publication in collaboration with photographers Eeva Rinne and Siru Kivistö and writers Pihla Hintikka, Anna Lehto, Johannes Reponen, Suvi Saloniemi and Marttiina Utriainen. We all believe that fashion is something more than a superficial act of consuming and are working around different aspects of fashion and raising questions around identity, memory, the portrayal of women and fashion’s impact on our lives and the envionment. The magazine is designed by Artur Närvänen.

The magazine will be launched at Green Lens Studios in London on 31 May and then later in August in Finland, where we’ll also have an exhibition at Myymälä2. You’re all very welcome to all of these events!

Here’s the invitation for the London event – hope to see you there!

Test Strip

This is a collage made from the test strips of my latest project. It’s not fully finished and I’m not yet going to tell you what it’s about, but I like it and think it’s rather hilarious. So tell me, what do you think?

An Image Says More Than a Thousand Words, But a Few Words from You Mean More Than Anything

This complicated title belongs to the work I did as my final work this year, for the Independent Critical Practice-unit. We could basically do anything, so I chose to do this. In this series I’m investigating the close relationship I have with my friends and family, even though the physical distance between us is great. Instead of using modern technology to keep in touch with people while I’m far away from them, I prefer writing letters. There is something so personal and precious about a handwritten letter. These images are a visual response to the emotions and memories the letters I have received while studying abroad have triggered, layered with images of the actual letter.

The images are solvent transfers on art paper, because I wanted to make my prints on something similar to notepaper. So thank you for writing to me, I really appreciate it.

To see what the rest of my year did as their final work this year, take a look at our blog.

The Man-made and the Natural

This is what I made for The Man-made and the Natural workshop that we had with Dan Holdsworth. I really struggled with what I want to do for this project (I guess all my energy had gone to sewing the dress for the Global/Local-workshop) but then I came across this quote in John Ajvide-Lindqvists book Människohamn:

”Havet känner inga gränser eller hänsyn. Det har givit oss allt och det kan ta allt ifrån oss”

The quote is from the chapter Om havet (about the sea) so I named this piece after that. The whole chapter is basically about the grandness of the sea and how the sea has given us everything but can take everything away from us. So I tried to work around this theme and went to Whitstable and tried to capture the grandness of the sea and the lack of control we ultimately have over it. We can try cotrol it by building sea walls but in the end it’s the sea that controls us and not vice versa. The sea is both seductive and frightening.

The sea is also a very important element for me, because I’ve lived by it all my life and I really miss it when I’m here. Now I just live next to a filthy river. What a joy.

Women’s Day

Today is the international women’s day. Apparently it’s not largely celebrated in this country, so no free dessert for me this year!

Speaking of women’s day and equality there’s still a long way to go. Last night was the Oscar gala and I was very surprised to hear that this was the first time a woman won the award for best director. It only took 82 years to achieve. Like there hasn’t been good movies directed by women. Some my favourite movies are directed by women: Lost in Translation by Sofia Coppola and Me and You and Everyone We Know by Miranda July. Actually I’m generally obsessed with them both. July’s collection of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You, is something I could go on about forever. Actually, I could go on about everything she does. And Coppola’s sense of style, if I only had that!

Speaking of movies, here’s a shot I took of Eeva during a lighting workshop at Chatham Dockyards. The location was amazing and I heard it’s been used in some films. Apparently a boxing scene in Guy Richies Sherlock Holmes was filmed here. Why on earth didn’t anyone tell me that I could bump into Jude Law in Chatham of all places?

Oh, and happy women’s day to all you lovely ladies!

Global/Local

This is the thing I did for the Global/Local-workshop we had with Dinu Li. The work we did had to have some global and local aspect (duh!) so I did mine about fashion.

For some reason I’ve saved most of my tags from the clothes I’ve bought the past years, just because they look nice and I knew I’ll find use for them some day, and now I did! I was thinking about my relationship to clothes and fashion. I lovelovelove it, but at the same time it makes me feel guilty and ashamed. I’m picky with the food (if you know Swedish, check out this blog about the food industry and how we get fooled) and cosmetics I buy. I don’t like brands and I try to buy organic and local but with clothes it’s the complete opposite. I love brands and even though I don’t like admitting it to myself, I get much happier if I buy a nice T-shirt by the late McQ or Marc by Marc Jacobs than if i buy a nice looking, non-branded organic T-shirt. There’s something wrong about my attitude and thinking, and that’s basically what this brand dress I did is about.

The dress has such a lovely sound I think I should make a video piece of it. I got some good comments about this piece in the crit, but they were most about the dress and not the photograph itself. I do consider myself as a photographer, but for this particular work it was more about the dress and the process than the final outcome of the picture.

I really should write less. I must be boring you to death.

Objects of Survival

Last Wednesday was the opening night for our exhibition Other Faces. The opening night went very well and we got really good response from people. Thank you everyone for coming!

And for those who could not come, here are some really crappy photographs of my exibited series Untitled (Objects of Survival #1-5). Unfortunately I don’t have any images of the installation of letters I had next to my work. You find my artist statement underneath the images.

These images don’t really give credit to my work. You can’t see the hand made texture of my images over the web, which really is a shame beacause it’s such a big part of my work. There’s a better picture of one of the images on the Deaf Cat web page (click here to view it). I’ll try to get hold of some installation shots later and pictures from the opening night as well. 

 

Artist Statement

Ida Taavitsainen’s (b. 1987 in Helsinki, Finland) work is concerned with memory, identity and family. Being the middle child and growing up between two cultures she has always struggled to find her place.

In this series she has photographed objects that she took with her when moving to England. The photographed objects relate to her personal history, as many of them are gifts from people she is close to, and therefore they are full of memories and help her feel safe and at home in her new country. 

The images of the objects are juxtaposed with photographs of letters she has received from friends and family during her stay in England. Writing letters is Taavitsainen’s way of keeping in touch with those who matter most.

The photographed objects might not seem valuable to the viewer, but to Taavitsainen they are priceless. Some of the objects are in daily use while others only have sentimental value. She has deliberately photographed the objects from above, lying on fabric, like objects in a museum vitrine.

Taavitsainen’s images have a romantic nostalgia and longing for times passed. The images are salt and albumen prints, an old technique that dates back to the beginning of the history of photography. Taavitsainen’s choice to use this technique emphasizes her longing for the past.

Sneak Preview

We now have a folio on the Deaf Cat webpage. Check it out here to get a sneak preview of our show Other Faces. Hope to see you on the private view next Wednesday.

Other Faces Exhibition

Last week and this week I’ve been working on my pictures for the group exhibition Other Faces that I am participating in. I’ll write more about my work later (I know, I’ve promised this before…). The private view is on December 2nd from 6-9 pm. You’re all very welcome.

The poster was made by Eeva Rinne.