Events/Openings

Gallery TAIK is thrilled to showcase works from the Finnish photographer Tiina Itkonen for the exhibition opening on February 15, 2013. The title of the exhibition refers to the artist’s search for her own “Ultima Thule”, a term used to describe the concept of a place outside of the “borders of the known world”, specifically in the Far North.

Tiina Itkonen’s fascination with the topography and culture of Greenland began before she even visited the country in the mid 1990s. Since that time, the photographer has returned for visits on numerous occasions, giving her substantial time to record Greenland’s other-worldly landscapes and the native Inuit people who inhabit them. For the works shown in this exhibition, the artist revisited her archive of unpublished photographs, and reassessed and edited them. Itkonen’s photographs provide both documentary evidence for, and stir up interest about one of the coldest places on the planet. For one, questions concerning the environmental changes caused by global warming resurface in our collective consciousness.
Moreover, the works also provide for a captivating, all-encompassing viewing. With the uninterrupted style of the panoramic camera, icebergs seem to float off the horizontal photograph onto the space outside of its edges and the calm, quiet atmosphere becomes a universal experience.

Tiina Itkonen was born 1968 in Helsinki, Finland. In 2002 she graduated with a Master of Arts from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (renamed Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2011). Her work has been shown in numerous international group and solo exhibitions: amongst others at festivals and venues such as the 54th Biennale de Venezia, 3rd Daegu Photo Biennale, 17th Biennale of Sydney, Danish National Museum of Photography, Shiseido Gallery Tokyo, New York Photo Festival, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, and Kulturhuset Stockholm. Itkonen has been awarded with the William Thuring Prize and the Young Photographer of the Year Award. Her works are included in collections such as the Moderna Museet (SE), DZ-Bank Collection (DE), Statoil Collection (NO), Helsinki Art Museum (FI), as well as numerous private collections throughout Europe and the USA amongst others.

Image caption: Tiina Itkonen, "Sermermiut 2", 2007/2012, pigment print mounted on acrylic, 70 x 200 cm and 50 x 140 cm