Nothing Will Erase The Traces
by Kirsti KooHoo
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Dear Kirsti, Thank you so much for accepting our invitation on behalf of HocTok. Your photography is very captivating. We love the compositions, your titles, and the dream worlds you invite us to explore. What are the moments you live for? What are the moments you love capturing? |
photo: courtesy of the artist |
I live for moments in general, for me the little things, little moments matter the most in life. A moment can be very intense or you barely notice it; the wind playing with hair or a fabric blowing in the air, a person lost in thought, a drop of water hitting a surface, the first minutes after the rain, a sun ray playing hide and seek, a misplaced object. I want to put frames around these moments. I love to capture the beauty in “the ugly”, the presence of the unnoticed in everyday life.
What makes photography so interesting is that pretty much every moment can be captured.
Your series titled Distant Silence speak of a painful void and sadness. What inspired you to create this series? What did you want to communicate to your audience?
Part of that series was inspired by a difficult period in my life. I felt a “distant silence” approaching, something that would take extremely important people away from me. This series is quite dark and obscure. It reflects the unknown and the loneliness. In the end we are all alone even if we are surrounded by lots of people.
It’s a visual rendez-vous with fear and sadness that can affect everyone.
In your series Street Art the focus is on the colors, the business, and the eyes. How do these photographs make you feel?
I’m fascinated by the provocative side of street art, the way it communicates directly with the public and how free it is in comparison to the formal art world. It reveals a lot about the current society. It questions the existing environment in a fearless, colorful way. Having a degree in sociology and cultural anthropology, I already have some insight into social factors but street art gives me a deeper thought-provoking context to study the protest, illicit performance of self-expression and politics in a social space. It’s also a colorful contrast to my black and white photography.
What are the most interesting places for street art?
No doubt: Berlin. I go there as often as I can, and every single time the street art there takes my breath away. Urban culture has such a big role in the Berlin art scene. It is an ongoing transformation and it is extremely fascinating.
I have found very interesting street art also in Reykjavik, Iceland, Prague in the Czech Republic, Lyon, France, and of course in New York.
What makes photography so interesting is that pretty much every moment can be captured.
Your series titled Distant Silence speak of a painful void and sadness. What inspired you to create this series? What did you want to communicate to your audience?
Part of that series was inspired by a difficult period in my life. I felt a “distant silence” approaching, something that would take extremely important people away from me. This series is quite dark and obscure. It reflects the unknown and the loneliness. In the end we are all alone even if we are surrounded by lots of people.
It’s a visual rendez-vous with fear and sadness that can affect everyone.
In your series Street Art the focus is on the colors, the business, and the eyes. How do these photographs make you feel?
I’m fascinated by the provocative side of street art, the way it communicates directly with the public and how free it is in comparison to the formal art world. It reveals a lot about the current society. It questions the existing environment in a fearless, colorful way. Having a degree in sociology and cultural anthropology, I already have some insight into social factors but street art gives me a deeper thought-provoking context to study the protest, illicit performance of self-expression and politics in a social space. It’s also a colorful contrast to my black and white photography.
What are the most interesting places for street art?
No doubt: Berlin. I go there as often as I can, and every single time the street art there takes my breath away. Urban culture has such a big role in the Berlin art scene. It is an ongoing transformation and it is extremely fascinating.
I have found very interesting street art also in Reykjavik, Iceland, Prague in the Czech Republic, Lyon, France, and of course in New York.
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How would you describe Helsinki through your eyes as a photographer? What makes it special?
Helsinki is a very beautiful city in the classical sense, lots of nature and breathtaking scenery. I love minimalism in my photography and Helsinki has a lot of minimalistic modern architecture as well. The light - or the lack of it - plays an interesting role in photography and Helsinki offers all the extremes.
The Finnish capital has a pretty diverse art life, and especially fine art lovers have a lot of choices. Personally I’m more interested in contemporary art and street art which is becoming more and more popular in some neighborhoods typically in eastern parts of Helsinki.
Who is the author of the snippets of poetry for your series titled, Symphonies? They’re short, but perfect and go very well with your photography.
The texts are written by me. I love to write short texts and poems myself, I have even written a book in the past. I have an M.A. in linguistics and have always been interested in playing with words and analyzing texts. I’m a big fan of contemporary literature and especially contemporary poets. They inspire me a lot even when I create my own “visual stories”.
In my exhibitions I often combine my own texts and black and white photography.
When did you realize poetry is important to you and your work?
Poetry came along to my work almost right away. When I was preparing an exhibition “Geometry of solitude” for a small art gallery in Helsinki, I started to get deeper into meta-emotions. Ever since multiple emotions have been important to me when creating art, and I feel that poetry brings a new aspect to my photography. I don’t really want to explain my art. I hope my photos mean different things for everyone, that people interpret my art in their own way.
There are a lot of musical references to your work. How come? What’s your favorite music?
I have always been surrounded by music. I was accepted to a private music school at the age of 4 and literally grew up with music. Music – like art in general – provokes so many emotions, and I’m often inspired by lyrics or some instrumental tones that transport me to a particular time or space.
When creating visual stories, I almost always listen to music, it’s like entering a whole new world that I want to capture. The emotions I feel are then encoded through shadows, light, colors, harmony or disorder, whatever I see around me. Music played a significant part of my exhibition “Distant Closeness” at Galleria Dix in Helsinki where my visual art was combined with music.
My taste varies a lot. Some artists that have inspired me are Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mylene Farmer, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Muse, Paula Vesala, The Cinematic Orchestra and Ramin Djawadi.
Journeys that we became – Looking around, observing your surroundings, the wider region and the entire world, what kind of journeys do you think we’ve become? What do you wish for?
Our journeys are full of confused steps; steps full of pressure of all kinds. Journeys of anxiety, solitude, loneliness, abuse and fear but also journeys of hope, steadfastness, and at least to some extent journeys of toleration and confidence.
Personally, I wish for many inner journeys, to be able to discover new dimensions of me, an even wider spectrum of emotions, colors, shades, my surroundings and life in general. Journeys guided by photography, music, poetry – art in general.
Little nothing little darling – is this dedicated to a certain character in life or in fiction?
This photo is just an interpretation of “little nothings” that can mean a lot in the end. A little gesture, a little light in the darkness, a moment of beauty, a thought, a lovely surprise.
Life should have more of these “little nothings” that are in the end very valuable.
Nothing Will Erase the Traces…
…of you. No matter you are just temporarily out of sight or deceased – there are still traces of you in empty rooms, in the garden, on the streets. From a greater perspective there is no separation at all.
There are always traces of you in me. This invisible embrace.
www.koohoophoto.net
Helsinki is a very beautiful city in the classical sense, lots of nature and breathtaking scenery. I love minimalism in my photography and Helsinki has a lot of minimalistic modern architecture as well. The light - or the lack of it - plays an interesting role in photography and Helsinki offers all the extremes.
The Finnish capital has a pretty diverse art life, and especially fine art lovers have a lot of choices. Personally I’m more interested in contemporary art and street art which is becoming more and more popular in some neighborhoods typically in eastern parts of Helsinki.
Who is the author of the snippets of poetry for your series titled, Symphonies? They’re short, but perfect and go very well with your photography.
The texts are written by me. I love to write short texts and poems myself, I have even written a book in the past. I have an M.A. in linguistics and have always been interested in playing with words and analyzing texts. I’m a big fan of contemporary literature and especially contemporary poets. They inspire me a lot even when I create my own “visual stories”.
In my exhibitions I often combine my own texts and black and white photography.
When did you realize poetry is important to you and your work?
Poetry came along to my work almost right away. When I was preparing an exhibition “Geometry of solitude” for a small art gallery in Helsinki, I started to get deeper into meta-emotions. Ever since multiple emotions have been important to me when creating art, and I feel that poetry brings a new aspect to my photography. I don’t really want to explain my art. I hope my photos mean different things for everyone, that people interpret my art in their own way.
There are a lot of musical references to your work. How come? What’s your favorite music?
I have always been surrounded by music. I was accepted to a private music school at the age of 4 and literally grew up with music. Music – like art in general – provokes so many emotions, and I’m often inspired by lyrics or some instrumental tones that transport me to a particular time or space.
When creating visual stories, I almost always listen to music, it’s like entering a whole new world that I want to capture. The emotions I feel are then encoded through shadows, light, colors, harmony or disorder, whatever I see around me. Music played a significant part of my exhibition “Distant Closeness” at Galleria Dix in Helsinki where my visual art was combined with music.
My taste varies a lot. Some artists that have inspired me are Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mylene Farmer, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Muse, Paula Vesala, The Cinematic Orchestra and Ramin Djawadi.
Journeys that we became – Looking around, observing your surroundings, the wider region and the entire world, what kind of journeys do you think we’ve become? What do you wish for?
Our journeys are full of confused steps; steps full of pressure of all kinds. Journeys of anxiety, solitude, loneliness, abuse and fear but also journeys of hope, steadfastness, and at least to some extent journeys of toleration and confidence.
Personally, I wish for many inner journeys, to be able to discover new dimensions of me, an even wider spectrum of emotions, colors, shades, my surroundings and life in general. Journeys guided by photography, music, poetry – art in general.
Little nothing little darling – is this dedicated to a certain character in life or in fiction?
This photo is just an interpretation of “little nothings” that can mean a lot in the end. A little gesture, a little light in the darkness, a moment of beauty, a thought, a lovely surprise.
Life should have more of these “little nothings” that are in the end very valuable.
Nothing Will Erase the Traces…
…of you. No matter you are just temporarily out of sight or deceased – there are still traces of you in empty rooms, in the garden, on the streets. From a greater perspective there is no separation at all.
There are always traces of you in me. This invisible embrace.
www.koohoophoto.net