Hollow
Hollow is a critical commentary on a time when altered reality is true and nothing can be trusted. Kinnunen succeeds in avoiding imagery that imitates naturalness so completely that her images would never be considered real. Their unnaturalness is present in a haunting way. It hovers precisely on the border between beauty and horror and feels like an honest way to describe our time, in which humans have gradually distanced themselves from nature, the landscape has become a stage, and humanity has become role-playing. The events in the photographs and video works have genuinely taken place, but one cannot help but wonder what really happened.
Anni Kinnunen (born 1978) was already taking pictures with a high-quality compact camera at the age of 10, and she had her own account at a local photography store. Kinnunen initially studied image processing in Oulu and became particularly interested in darkroom work. Today, she works and exhibits her work internationally. Her works are extensive and created over a long period of time. Her previous exhibition at Galleria Halmetoja was titled Safewords. ARTag Gallery exhibited her early work Personal Landscape. Kinnunen’s photographs are performative, and she appears in them herself. She has experienced the situation and been intensely present in it. Works from the exhibition series The Great Escape have previously been shown at venues including the Oulu Art Museum, Finlayson Art Area in Tampere, Imatra Art Museum, Hyvinkää Art Museum, and Kerava Art Museum in the On The Air invitational exhibition, and most recently at the Turku Art Museum. Internationally, works have been exhibited in Denmark, Japan, Italy, Slovakia, and Iceland.
The exhibition is part of the Lux Helsinki -event. Lux Helsinki takes place from 6–11 January 2026. Free and open to all, Lux Helsinki 2026 transforms familiar buildings and spaces into unique works of light art as the festival spreads across the city. During Lux, the gallery will be open until 22 every night.
Learn more about the artworks and the event at: https://luxhelsinki.fi/
The exhibition is accompanied by the publication of a book, The Great Escape, which presents a larger selection of works from the same series. The exhibition opening and the launch of The Great Escape book will be celebrated after Lux on Thursday, 15 January, from 17:00 to 19:00.
A discussion with Anni Kinnunen and Anu Utriainen, will take place across the street from the gallery at Cafe Pacifico on Wednesday, 21 January, starting at 18:00.
We want to thank Mänttä Art Festival and Pro AV Saarikko for the collaboration.
