Dry Joy by Turku-based artist Iiu Susiraja presents her work from a period of more than ten years. Susiraja creates candid photographs and videos with a sense of warmth and humour. Although she appears in the works herself, they are not self-portraits but rather performances for the lens.
The artist places herself in front of he camera in decidedly ordinary settings along with domestic objects, clothes, cleaning utensils or foodstuff, all of which she manipulates in surprising or “subversive” ways. Susiraja uses food and everyday objects just as some other artist might use paint or clay.
“Many people think that you must be beautiful in a picture. I like to think that the function of art is to tell the truth, that my pictures wouldn’t be truthful if someone else played me in them.”
The works inspire us to see our culturally charged ideas about body image, sexuality and femininity.
Iiu Susiraja (b. 1975) has degrees in textile design and photography from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied 2012–2016. This is her first extensive museum exhibition in Finland. In addition to photographs and videos, it also includes an installation. |