Photographs and Installations – Katariina Filppula

I have photographed the now-demolished Suomen turkistehdas Oy factory building in Hämeenlinna and its quiet disappearance from the shores of Vanajavesi. When I started taking photos, operations had already ceased at the 75-year-old factory, and its movable assets were auctioned off.

In the empty factory, I was interested in different time layers. My brief acquaintance with the Fur Factory extended into the past as I explored the place. The traces of work inside the building, the smells, the wear, and the fur stuck everywhere told the story of the factory’s activities. With the demolition process, the outside world gradually encroached on the factory and slowly erased it. The moment when the place was finally abandoned was also strongly present. The exhibition is not a documentary about the Suomen turkistehdas but an exploration of temporality, a vanishing place, and change.

In addition to photography, I collected abandoned objects from the Fur Factory that were no longer useful to humans. Protective suits, tools, benches, and fur are the starting points for my installation works. By modifying and combining my findings, I obscure the original purpose of the objects and convey the strange atmosphere I experienced at the factory.

This text was created with AI assistance