Marja Pirilä - Camera obscura

Marja Pirilä (b. 1957, Rovaniemi) is one of the leading artists in Finnish photography. She has studied the camera obscura technique for over 30 years and, by consistently using it in her artistic work, has created a multi-level visual world with refined and poetic tones. The comprehensive exhibition primarily focuses on the artist’s camera obscura series and their three-dimensional variations, whilst also including other series and videos from her wide oeuvre.

The magic and surprise of the camera obscura have fascinated artists, researchers and the general public for centuries, with Pirilä becoming part of this continuum through her art. In the words of the artist: “While putting together this retrospective exhibition, it dawned on me how important opposites have been in my work since the very beginning. Light/dark, inside/outside, nature/urban, life/death, childhood/old age and alone/together are themes that are woven into my production, and it is at the intersections of these opposites that my works are born and live.”

Marja Pirilä’s solo exhibition at Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art presents some of her extensive series, such as In Strindberg’s Rooms (2015–2017), which she created in the artist residency at Hôtel Chevillon in the village of Grez-sur-Loing, France. Pirilä’s longest-running project, Interior/Exterior, has been ongoing since 1996. In it, the artist combines a person being photographed in their room with the surrounding external landscape by shooting in a space which has been transformed into a camera obscura. The result of this is a multi-level, intimate portrait. The Milavida series was created in 2011–2013, when Pirilä photographed in the empty neo-Renaissance palace in Tampere, built by Peter and Olga von Nottbeck. The Talking House series (2004–2006) deals with themes of abandonment and fragility.

The camera obscura phenomenon has also offered the artist a spatial approach, as she has illustrated its magic through three-dimensional works such as the multi-lens Wunderkamera – camera obscura (2017). These works were created by Pirilä in collaboration with the photographer Petri Nuutinen.

Marja Pirilä’s work has been presented extensively in Finland and in many exhibitions across Europe, North and South America as well as Asia. Her works are in significant public and private collections. Pirilä was awarded the State Prize for Photographic Art in 2000, the Pirkanmaa Art Prize in 2010 and the Kordelin Prize in 2020 for her creative use, development and promotion of the camera obscura.

Marja Pirilä’s photographic art is complemented by the soundscapes of Tapani Rinne, the newest of which is being created for this exhibition. The national cultural education programme Art Testers has selected Marja Pirilä’s Camera Obscura exhibition for its 2026 programme.

The exhibition is produced by Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art / Vaasa Museums and curated by Head of Exhibitions Maaria Salo in collaboration with the artist.

The exhibition is supported by the Finnish Heritage Agency.

Image:
Marja Pirilä
From the series In Strindberg’s Rooms
#34 Possible Landscape III
2017