Vinhas Gallery: Marja Pirilä, Valopäiväkirjat ja Milavidan uni

Marja Pirilä

Valopäiväkirjat ja Milavidan uni – Photography Exhibition

Vinha Gallery, Ruovesi 25.7.–14.9.2025

A warm welcome to the opening of the exhibition on 25.7. at 2 pm.

The opening kicks off the Vinha Book Festival (Vinhan kirjajuhlat).

The artist will be participating in the event.

There will be light refreshments at the opening of the exhibition and the opportunity to purchase products from the book café and shop.

Pirilä says the following about the series of works that can be seen in Vinha:

Milavidan uni

"I photographed the Milavidan uni series using the slow camera obscura method in the deserted Näsilinna (now the Milavida Museum) in Tampere between 2011 and 2013. As I worked in the dark halls of the palace, which exudes history, the upside-down, dream-like images of the outside world were reflected in them, making the past and present seem to merge. The Milavida/Nottbeck collage images combine album photos of the palace's builders, Olga and Peter von Nottbeck, with solarigraphy images. I exposed them on the palace roof for several days, allowing the sun's rays to be drawn on the images. I created the series with Iris Nuutinen. In Ensyklopedia camera obscura, an old encyclopedia series has undergone a metamorphosis and transformed into a work that illustrates the birth of photography both physically and in writing. The work is a collaboration with Petri Nuutinen."

Valopäiväkirjat

“In my work, light is the starting point for everything, it is the foundation on which my series are built. The collision of immaterial light with the material fascinates me the most in photography. I have photographed this in the darkness of a camera obscura for decades. In between my slow camera obscura work, I have photographed the Light Diaries series, in which empty notebooks have been the stage for light. Their white pages were like blank canvases on which I recorded thoughts, feelings and memories with the help of light. I reached out somewhere where my words could not reach.”

Marja Pirilä graduated as a photographer from the University of Art and Design (now Aalto University) and as a biologist from the University of Helsinki (FM) in 1986. The focus of her extensive production is on series made using the camera obscura method, and for her work in developing this rare method and its creative use, she has received, among others, Alfred Kordelin Prize (2020) and the Finnish State Prize for Photography (2000).

Since 1987, Pirilä’s works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in various parts of Finland,

Europe, Asia, and also in North and South America. Pirilä has published seven

photographs, two of which are retrospective photobooks Valon tassin / Because of Light (2024) and

Carried by Light (2014). Her works are in the collections of the Finnish and Tokyo Museums of Photography,

HUS, the State of Finland, the Serlachius and Saastamoinen Foundation, and the Wihuri Fund, among others.

Admission to Vinha Gallery is free.

The exhibition is open every day from 25 July to 14 September 2025 at Ruovedentie 15.

Please check the opening times at: vinhankirjakauppa.fi.

The Vinha Book Festival begins at 3 pm in the festival area, which can only be accessed with a wristband (free admission to the gallery opening).

On Friday, Satu Rämö, Outi Pakkanen and Laura Malmivaara will perform at the festival area.

The Juha Itkonen & Ville Härkönen duo and the Irina Björklund trio will perform during the evening.

Bjöklund's concert is the first and only one this year in Finland.

On Saturday, July 26, the book festival program will continue with authors and music.

For more information and the festival program & schedule: vinhankirjakauppa.fi.

For more information:

Pasi Vainio tel. 0500 329 591

pasi@vinhankirjakauppa.fi

Kati Pihkanen tel. 045 78 33 0899

kati@vinhankirjakauppa.fi