So far – Kari Eloranta

This exhibition is a kind of summary, but not a retrospective. It features images from recent trips, ranging from the vastness of the desert, the dense enclosure of the jungle, to the wastelands that no words seem to reach. These are journeys to the flip side of our privileged lives, to some of the most tested places in the world, to the very depths of humanity. But also to places where both spirit and thought have seemed to flow freely again, when the detritus of living standards has vanished. Whether these are places forsaken by God or forgotten by the media, in these addresses, the archaeology of humanity has been the most rewarding.

These trips have been explorations, fumbling, the attempt to perceive another reality, the shedding of premonitions, and wonder. Often navigating in the shadows of corruption and in the midst of arbitrary rules. Sometimes hiding the camera while simultaneously organizing visual chaos, so that something essential would appear on the screen. Rarely beginning with a fervently goal-driven approach to photographing, but as the situation unfolds, surrendering to a single, undeniable reality and being absorbed into it.

What is central is the human condition in this world. How does one live when the conditions for living seem nonexistent? When poverty and destruction surround, where is the human limit? When a sand dune or a coal mine devours fields, or when the only available work is to dismantle a toxic ship, what does one do? What happens when everything else has been stolen, but the whole ground beneath is gold—does happiness still remain? War no longer excites me with its colors, the geometry of artillery fire will soon fade, but evil lingers, vibrating in the mind for a long time. And hope chokes. How can a distant reality be conveyed in images?

Some of the images are from reports. Others started as random observations, spur-of-the-moment ideas, which later revealed their symbolism and connected to the field of other images. In this space, choices and rhythm are once again different, based on new associations. And perhaps, between the pictures of the day, a few “dream images” have sneaked in. A shot in the dark, spinning on its trajectory, morphing according to its will, lingering somewhere beyond the realm of documentary.

This text was created with AI assistance