The exhibition theme is fine and important in this time of uncertainty. Friendship brings people together and sometimes even connects them for life. For a year, Arto Revonkorpi photographed his own shadow against various colored and different backgrounds. From these shots, you can see that no matter what our background is, our shadows are the same color. Despite the fact that unfortunate stereotypes have been presented in the public, which try to divide or belittle people because of their different backgrounds.
Arto Revonkorpi’s exhibition of 48 works are color photographs in which nature and character are strongly present. All the pictures were taken in natural environments – not staged. The theme and dramatic arc of the exhibition are structured by Pentti Holapa’s (1927-2017) novel Portrait of a Friend of the same name, which received the Finlandia Prize in 1998. Due to its starting point, the exhibition is perfectly suited for public spaces.
The individual photographic works of the exhibition have been named after quotes from that book (p.6-7).
The exhibition also features an audio work that can be listened to on your own smartphone and headphones while viewing the images. In the audio, friends who have moved to Finland from elsewhere can be heard reading the same excerpt from Holapa’s book in Finnish. The readers are Kristina, who came to Finland from Ukraine, Flurina from Austria, Øyvind who moved from Norway to Finland, and Paul, a Nigerian-born Finnish citizen.
ARTO REVONKORPI (b. 1953) is a photographer and a fully serving special education teacher as well as a versatile art enthusiast from Jyväskylä. He has been photographing since a young age and has participated in several group exhibitions as well as held his own solo exhibitions since 2006. His photographs have been published in industry magazines, and he has also designed album covers and artist posters, as well as served as a curator for photographic exhibitions. The photographs in this exhibition tell of the interaction between nature and people.
The audio work of the exhibition has been produced by VALTTERI REVONKORPI (b. 1977) based on the recordings. Valtteri is Arto’s eldest son. He works at a marketing and communications agency in Jyväskylä as a user interface designer (=UI) for computer websites, and as a user experience designer (=UX) for those using them. In addition, Valtteri is an excellent drummer.
The Portrait of a Friend exhibition has been curated by PETER JOHNSON from Kokkola, who has been Arto’s longtime friend since the 1980s.
Tapahtuman järjestäjä:
-
Nimi
Jyväskylän kaupunginkirjasto
-
Sähköpostiosoite
-
Puhelinnumero
0145664123
Vieraile tapahtuman järjestäjän verkkosivuilla.
