Events/Openings

IF AND ONLY IF combines Maija Laurinen's photographs from the past few years. Although they might look heterogeneous to one or another viewer, they build an organic path that leads to the heart of Laurinen’s effort. They are all part of a story that can hardly be described in words as Laurinen’s photographic voice sounds brightest in moments of tranquility and by using the language of silence. Neither the photographs from her oldest series “Mute Land”, nor the latest works aim to present the structure of the known physical world. Vanishing and fleeing are key words to Laurinen’s world in which layers of reality become a metaphor for her inner life. In every apparently trivial situation is a hidden meaning, a mystery that wants to be discovered. And the fascinating part of the story is: no matter what cipher one may use to decrypt the message, one can be never sure, if it is the right one — which fills the thoughtful viewer with a thrill of joy.