MARJA PIRILÄCamera obscura - interior / exterior 18.1.2003 – 9.2.2003

Camera obscura-installation, 2002
C-print
glass, lenses
275 x 150 cm

The original thought to create these pictures was born of a nocturnal insight: in a room transformed into a camera obscura I could simultaneously, on the same piece of film, capture a person, his/her room and the scenery streaming from the windows. What a comprehensive means to portray the living environment of a human being!

After years of experience of working with pinhole cameras, I began the project with a curious and persevering intent: experiments with several minute exposures, strenuous darkening processes, arrangements and cancellations of appointments, waiting for the right light, framing and focusing attempts in dark spaces. Being dazzled by light. Deep pleasure from the metamorphosis of a room. Wonder about the quivering, enchanting phenomenon.

More often than not, something unexpected happened in camera obscuras. Intentions transmogrified themselves into something new, the space and the situations lured one into unplanned solutions.

In a dark room, during long exposure times, I could only hope that the phenomenon which constantly quivered and took new forms under my very eyes would be captured on film as I had experienced it in the silence of the space.

The photographs began to take form not only as the charting of the living environment of a human being, but also of the landscapes of the mind: reflections of thoughts, dreams, fears and reveries.

Marja Pirilä

Excerpt from the photography book CAMERA OBSCURA inside/outside (Publisher Musta Taide, 2002)

 
  • pirila/Camera_obscura_A

    Camera obscura-installation, 2002
    C-print
    glass, lenses
    275 x 150 cm

  • pirila/Camera_obscura_B

    Camera obscura-installation, 2002
    C-print
    glass, lenses
    275 x 150 cm

  • pirila/Camera_obscura_C

    Camera obscura-installation, 2002
    C-print
    glass, lenses
    275 x 150 cm

  • pirila/Helmi

    Camera obscura / Helmi, Tampere, 2002
    C-print
    105 x 130 cm
    edition 7

  • pirila/Leevi

    Camera obscura / Leevi, Tampere, 2002
    C-print
    70 x 86 cm
    edition 7

  • pirila/Reilika-ja-Reno

    Camera obscura / Reilika and Reno, Tampere, 2002
    C-print
    128 x 160 cm
    edition 7

  • pirila/Tiina-ja-Mika

    Camera obscura / Tiina and Mika, Tampere, 2002
    C-print
    120 x 157 cm
    edition 7

  • pirila/Tiinan-huone

    Camera obscura / Tiina's room, Tampere, 2002
    C-print
    160 x 126 cm
    edition 7

  • pirila/Irisdiptyyki

    Camera obscura / Iris, Tampere, 2002
    C-print
    77 x 190 cm
    edition 7

  • pirila/Marjadiptyyki

    Camera obscura / Marja's room, Tampere, 2002
    C-print
    82 x 177 cm
    edition 7

 
 
 
 
 
top