MARJA PIRILÄCamera obscura - interior / exterior 18.1.2003 – 9.2.2003
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)