Aura Saarikoski: Grey Mélange 23.8.–22.9.2024
Opening on Thrusday 22nd August 5pm-7pm.
Guided tour Sunday 15th September 1pm.
Aura Saarikoski’s exhibition Grey Mélange is an intimate exploration of the conditions and ethics of constructing an autofictional work; how one’s own life is framed as a work of art, from whose perspective the story is told, and what impact an autobiographical work has on the lived life. At the center of the exhibition is a photograph of a grey sweatshirt, stained with tears and mascara years earlier when the artist cried in the arms of a comforter after a birthday party. No one was washing the shirt, and the stain began to accumulate meanings, serving as a witness to the moment of sorrow and comfort, much like a photograph. The artist returned to the street corner where years earlier she had cried in the comforter’s embrace and documented it as if it were a crime scene. The photographs captured from the spot do not show what happened there, but they still testify, in a way only a photograph can, to a significant moment between the comforter and the comforted—we were there. But does the photograph even remember correctly? The comforter and the comforted have different memories of exactly where they were standing, and it’s also unclear to whom the stain on the shirt ultimately belongs. In the exhibition, the dialogue between the comforter and the comforted is presented as a text piece on hand-dyed grey t-shirts, where the story is told as an intimate dialogue between two narrators. The idea of dialogue is also reflected in two photographic works, which Saarikoski sees as functioning as visual references or reading guides within the exhibition. The works reference Wolfgang Tillmans’ photograph Sportflecken and Maggie Nelson’s novel The Argonauts.
Saarikoski’s approach to working with text, photography, and autobiographical material is essayistic, and the exhibition spreads out in the gallery space as an essay work combining photography and text. The first version of Grey Mélange was exhibited at Photographic Gallery Hippolyte in 2022, and Saarikoski’s second photo and text book, Grey Mélange, was published in the spring of 2023 (Khaos Publishing) and was a finalist in both the Photobook Award 2023 (Vuoden valokuvataidekirja) and the The Most Beautiful Books of the Year (Kauneimmat kirjat) competitions. The version of Grey Mélange shown at the Photographic Centre Peri is designed for this space, commenting, varying, and continuing its theme. Saarikoski works on her subjects over many years, and it is typical of her work to create different versions and interpretations of her pieces and to present them at various stages.
Aura Saarikoski is a Helsinki-based visual artist and writer. She graduated as a visual artist from the photography program at Turku Arts Academy in 2012 and earned a Master’s degree in photography from Aalto University in 2017. She has also studied creative writing at the Critical Academy. Currently, Saarikoski is a doctoral candidate in photography at Aalto University. Her debut book Gray Days / Harmaita päiviä (Parvs 2020), which combines photography and essayism and explores the experience of fog, was awarded the Edvard Richter Prize by the Finnish Art Society in 2020. Saarikoski’s texts have been published in, among others, the essay collection Jälki – kirjoituksia valokuvasta (S&S 2022) edited by Hanna Weselius, as well as in Nuori Voima and Libero.
The artist’s work and the production of this exhibition have been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland. Special thanks to Tatu Gustafsson, Eeva Hannula, Jaakko Suomalainen, and Jonna Juvonen.
Lisätietoa Valokuvakeskus Perin verkkosivuilta.
Turun Taidehalli