I created the visual identity and the exhibition architecture as well as the marketing material and the exhibition catalogue.
The exhibition #ThrowbackVantaa at Vantaa City Museum illustrates the chances that Vantaa City has gone through during the last seven decades. The material is based on old pictures of local amateur photographer Lauri Leppänen and supplemented by pair photographs of the todays situations of the same locations, taken by photographer Antti Yrjönen. Four themes are indicated in the exhibition space with different wall colors. The rhythm of the exhibition architecture is also created by the variation of huge whole wall photographs and smaller picture pairs mounted on aluminium.
Client: Vantaan City Museum
Year: 2018
Exhibition titled Rakkaus / Kärlek / Love, in The Finnish Museum of Photography K1, is a retrospective exhibition of the work of Susanna Majuri (1978–2020) . Majuri’s gorgeous photographs are like fairytales, they tell stories and show sceneries of fantastic dreams. With the typography and colour choices I wanted to continue the storybook style and underwater feeling. Titles and quotes from Majuri’s writings on the walls have gradient of watery colors.
Client: The Finnish Museum of Photography
Year: 2021
The Deported (Karkotetut) project was produced by a working group of journalists, researchers and artists who have joined forces to throw light on a little-known phenomenon. By combining different ways of storytelling we produced a book, created an exhibition at HAM Corner in Helsinki Art Museum, organised a seminar, a theme club and workshops on the subject. The material was also turned in to a documentaristic play.
My role was to create the visual identity for the event, the exhibition architecture, and couple of art installations for the exhibition.
*** The Deported project was awarded as the best Finnish Visual Journalism Project of the year 2016. ***
The team: Kaisa Viitanen, Katja Tähjä, Anne-Mari Ahonen, Niina Vuolajärvi, Elina Izarra, Laura Oja, Anna Mattson, Anne Ignatius, Johanna Kippo, Jukka Könönen
I did the exhibition design to Kunsthalle Seinäjoki’s art exhbition Valoon kahlitut (Chained to Light). I am also one of the artists.
Valoon Kahlitut is a monument to the career of the pioneer in photography Julia Widgrén (1842–1917). The exhibition pauses to look at Widgrén’s life and photographs, and to examine the worldviews that emerge from behind them. The exhibition’s slow techniques pay homage to the craftsmanship of the photographic profession in the 19th century. Widgren, who began her career in the 1860s, was one of the most successful photographers in Finland. The exhibition consists of archive photos, contemporary photography, object installations, textile works, drawings and videos.
Work group: Anne-Mari Ahonen, Heta Kaisto, Hanna Koikkalainen, Hanneriina Moisseinen and Anne Puumala.
Curator: Heta Kaisto
Exhibition space: Kunsthalle Seinäjoki, Vintti
Exhibition photos: © Krista Luoma
Year: 2024
Sustainable cities and communities
– Seeing the world with Rauli Virtanen
Kestävät kaupungit ja yhteisöt
– Rauli Virtasen matkassa maailmalla
This exhibition, centered around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030), presents images by foreign correspondent Rauli Virtanen from countries where the future has become increasingly uncertain due to the pandemic and political changes.
Selected from Virtanen’s extensive archive, the photographs from Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Kenya, and Ethiopia take the viewer to Kibera’s slums, the streets of Kabul, and Myanmar’s Inle Lake, highlighting stories of resilience.
Designed with accessibility strongly in mind, the exhibition was part of a two-year global education project funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Client: Helinä Rautavaaran museo
Year: 2022
I created the visual identity and the exhibition architecture for the exhibition At the Mercy of Water (Veden varassa) at Helinä Rautavaara ethnographical museum in Espoo. I also curated the photo selection for the exhibition.
The exhibition enlightens how the climate change is affecting the people who’s life is depending on the water cycle. Tropical cyclones, unpredictable monsoon rains and rising sea level – those are among the consequenses of the climate change people are facing in they daily life. These phenomens are specially affecting the lives of hunter-gatherer communities relying on nature’s resources and people living in coastal areas. Photographer Vargha Bahagir’s beautiful images are the core of the exhibition, showing the lifestyle of two nomad people, the Bajaus living in the sea areas of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, and the Raute on the slopes of Nepal. The water related objects from the museum’s collection picture the importance of water for cultures around the world.
Client: Helinä Rautavaara Museum
Year: 2020
From zero to hero
– Role models from Nairobi
The exhibition space was designed to capture the atmosphere of Nairobi’s streets through images and everyday objects brought from the city. Large photo prints cover the walls and curtains, and a Nairobi-style “corrugated metal shack” has been built in the space—representing the home and nail salon of one of the main protagonists. In addition to exhibition architecture and visual design, I directed the photography sessions in Kenya and curated the images for the exhibition.
Everyone faces challenges in life. What helps in difficult and conflicting situations? Where does one find the strength to believe that things will get better?
Young people who grew up homeless in Nairobi are now adults. They have broken free from cycles of crime and addiction, created jobs for themselves, and rented their own homes. They are living proof that positive change is possible.
Visitors can step into a Nairobi nail salon, a vegetable stand, and a car wash. Meanwhile the Kenyan mentors featured in the exhibition share their personal experiences in videos and texts. The Kenyan team has also explored the realities of Finnish youth and tailored an empathetic experience designed to offer relatable and hope-inspiring insights.
Client: Helinä Rautavaaran museo
Curating: Kaisa Viitanen
Photos from Nairobi: Brian Inganga
Year: 2024
I did the exhibition design and the visual identity together with graphic designer Anna-Mari Tenhunen, she working more on the visual identity and I on the exhibition architecture. I also have my own video installation Piiri pieni pyörii in the exhibition.
The photographic exhibition Those Who Left (Lähteneet) shows what can happen to people who have left their home, striving for something better.
Photographers Anna Autio and Katja Tähjä capture in their pictures the impact that being on the move has had on people. Those Who Left is a very human exhibition focused on identifiability: that could be me, or you. It looks at an issue up close and personal.
Client: Helinä Rautavaara Museum
Year: 2020
Credits: Photos in the exhibition Anna Autio and Katja Tähjä
Team: Anne-Mari Ahonen, Anna Autio, Katja Tähjä, Anna-Mari Tenhunen, Taina Tervonen, Kaisa Viitanen
Visual identity / Virtual exhibition design
I designed visual identity and the wall colors for two simultaniously opened exhibitions at Rauma Art Museum, Hanna Koikkalainen’s Lakkautettu kylä and Hanneriina Moisseinen’s Kannas. Then came the pandemia and the museum had to be shut for the public. I was asked me to convert the exhibition content to an online exhibition Poikkeustila 1939–1944.
Client: Rauma Art Museum
Curator: Heta Kaisto
Year: 2020
