PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY HIPPOLYTE
Kalevankatu 18 B, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
+358 9 612 33 44, www.hippolyte.fi
Open: Tue-Fri 12:00-17:00, Sat-Sun 12:00-16:00

9.4.-2.5.2010
Kalle Kataila
LANDSCAPE COGNIZANCE

Discussion on Wed 14 April, at 5 pm - Kalle Kataila & Kristian Haggblom. Welcome! (discussion in English)
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"My photographs capture the experience of being present in a moment and observing the landscape in stillness. Being part of the landscape that we interconnect with can lead us to explore our relationship to and understanding of the environment around us. Landscapes can help us to reflect on our role as humans in the ever-changing diversity of our planet’s landscapes"

The first obvious association from Kalle Kataila's photographs is their affinity to romantic landscape painting, where the infinite grandeur of nature and landscape are the object of the viewer's admiration. The figures in Kataila's pictures are lost in deep, perhaps even sublime, thoughts in front of a distant horizon. The photos reach out to the same religiously coloured nature experience undoubtedly sought also by the painters of past centuries.

The key elements in Kataila's pictures are the moment and the quintessentially photographic sense of ephemeral time and transience. The photographs in the series build up into a personal journey of discovery wherein a final answer is being sought for in ever-changing landscapes. The series seems in fact an apt depiction of the modern, global way of life – places and environments may change at the drop of a hat, yet in the face of life itself we are always alone. In some of the pictures, the human figure, a staple element in Kataila's photographs, disappears. Has it perhaps reached the desired enlightenment, or has the admirer finally merged with the landscape?

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Kalle Kataila (b. 1978) is a Helsinki-based photographic artist, who has participated in exhibitions since 2004. His photographs have been exhibited in South Korea, England, Norway, France, Russia and the United States, and he has mounted solo exhibitions in Finland, Canada and Italy. Kataila is currently preparing his Master's degree at the Aalto University. He is a member of the Helsinki School of Photography.

Kalle Kataila, Shepherd, 2008

For more information and press images, please contact:
Petronella Grönroos, exhibition co-ordinator / Photgraphic Gallery Hippolyte +358 9-612 33 44, firstname.lastname@hippolyte.fi