Inspiration - Marja Pirilä
Introduction -
Marja Pirila is an artist that I first came across on a visit to the Galerie Nationale De La Tapisserie in Beavais, France. In hindsight this unexpected introduction demonstrates the value of a gallery visit, and that of a good gallery. I may (or may not) have come across Marja Pirilä sooner or later, but to be introduced to the artist and her work in the ‘real’ world, and to be confronted with the work in it’s intended format, this had far more impact than anything that any internet platform can offer. Part of the delight was in the unexpectedness of the work. It was a random vitas to a random gallery, I had no expectation, and knew nothing of the exhibition other than it was photographic. The work being exhibited by Pirilä was from her ongoing ‘Interior/Exterior’ series, along with her Spiral Camera Obscura, and some ‘Tin can’ Obscura’s that hung from the ceiling. The whole thing was very interactive, but also satisfied aesthetically with some fine prints, almost as if the prints highlighted the technical potential of the items we were playing with.
Marja Pirilä’s Tin Can Camera Obscura’s in the Galerie Nationale De La Tapisserie. Aprint from the Artist’s “Interior/Exterior series can be seen on the far wall. Photo taken by Chris Arrondelle - Pentax K3.
The Artist -
Marja Pirilä was born in 1957 in Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, and probably best known for being the “original” hometown of Santa Claus.
“I was born in 1957 in Finland close to the Arctic Circle. I wonder if my northern heritage is the origin of my endless love of light and fascination with camera obscura phenomenon in which light flooding into a dark space takes with it reflections of the world outside?” Marja Pirilä https://www.lensculture.com/marja-pirila
Pirilä graduated in 1986 as a photographer from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland, and after seeing some of Abelardo Morell’s black and white (camera obscura) images in a photography magazine.
Abelardo Morell, ‘Camera Obscura: Manhattan View Looking South in Large Room’, 1996
“The idea in embarking on the Interior/Exterior project was a nocturnal inspiration after seeing some black-and-white images of Abelardo Morell in a photo magazine. In the room converted into a camera obscura I could capture an image of a person and at the same time that person’s room and the view from the window – what an all-encompassing method by which to photograph a person’s living environment!” Marja Pirilä https://www.lensculture.com/articles/marja-pirila-interior-exterior-camera-obscura-dreams
In 1996 Pirilä began her Interior/Exterior series of images that has gone on to become her longest (ongoing) project. This was also the beginning of what was to become a very long relationship with the Camera Obscura technique. Something that Pirilä has continued to develop and refine. In Pirilä’s latest series “In Strindberg’s Rooms” the artist creates her Camera Osbsura inside the apartment once occupied by August Strindberg (1849–1912), one of Sweden’s most important and controversial writers.
'In Strindberg’s Rooms 34, - possible landscape III - Marja Pirilä - 2017
Pirilä’s introduction of the door slightly open and what appears to be use of multiple lenses have taken this imagery (in my opinion) to another level. The image above seems to incorporate a triple exposure of the same scene but at different focal lengths. The cross over sections of silhouette seem to get steadily darker and there is a quality of light that I would not expect to achieve from this technique. The narrative of the images taken from the room of a well known (historic) Swedish author is very compelling to me, and the images have a timeless quality that give me a sense that neither the room nor the view have changed.