Background information and statement by the Finnish photographer, Elina BROTHERUS
"I am now (2012) 40 years old. I have used myself as a model since my early photographs more than 15 years ago. It is a strange feeling to look back on the work done and on the young person I was myself live now what was an unknown future for them. What happened, what has changed? The apartments, the friends. The face has grown older. The aesthetics of my photography, however, have remained the same. What is surprising, however, is that suddenly I no longer the youngest in group shows. At my age my parents were dead. My health is deteriorating, as is the case with many friends my age. Some have passed away. I think it's all these sick thoughts that led to the idea of this book, 'Artist and her Model. ”I didn't want it to be“ only the fourth monograph. ”The important thing is to compare images from different times - to compare the age Seeking to question what we are at a certain moment, where do I see myself now? I would like to show the jump in time from 1996 to 2011, show the line that goes through the work, and look at young Elina with a certain amusement and yet tenderly." (Freely translated, © Elina BROTHERUS)
Book review and content
"After 15 years of self-portraits, Elina BROTHERUS writes on the back of this monograph, 'Artist and her Model': '' It is a strange feeling to look back on the work that has been done and the young person I was once. What happened? What has changed? The apartments, the friends, the face has gotten older. And what else has changed? Not the style of her self-portraits, which has remained pretty constant; BROTHERUS from the front, BROTHERUS from behind, BROTHERUS in front of a breathtaking natural backdrop, BROTHERUS at home, on her bed, in her bathroom or with a partner or model. Sometimes she is dressed and sometimes she is naked, but she is always herself. The same hair, the same expression, the same body, blonde, thin and getting weaker and weaker. Except when you start to look more closely and then it changes. The titles hit and a slight grief pervades the book. Late works show, like Susan Bri In her introductory essay, ght writes: '... a woman who knows her way around all too well to communicate and articulate, but who still struggles with sex, the pain of love and waiting for a change in her life . (...) The photographs cleverly show how grueling the process of attempting conception can be. ' In 'Anonciation 5' we see Elina BROTHERUS sitting on the edge of her bathtub, her toes curled up under her feet, her hands clenched into fists, her face shows tiredness and sadness, a being eaten away by the steady drop of disappointment and failure . On the other hand, there is hope and joy in 'Les Baigneurs', where Elina BROTHERUS sits naked in a perfectly winding stream. It's boring and foggy and a man is holding her hand. Does she pull him in or does he pull her out? Whatever it is, Elina BROTHERUS smiles, no matter how cold it is. And it looks cold. The fragility of the 'divorce portrait' comes from her early work, in which Elina BROTHERUS 'red and raw face sits oversized on her delicate shoulders and the title tells the story of fear and liberation. The 'divorce portrait' is 'I hate sex' and 'The first day of the rest of your life'. BROTHERUS is contemplative here, all cigarettes, bare floorboards and a mattress without a bed. The landscapes are beautiful, the pictures fill with art-historical and interestingly personal details. And it is the intimate moments that define the book, the small cracks that crush what they reveal." (Freely translated, © Colin Pantall, 2012, in: photoeye/reviews/2012)
About Finnish photographer, Elina BROTHERUS (b.1972, in Helsinki)
Photo books by Elina BROTHERUS
- Ed(s)/Author(s)
- Susan Bright, Timo Kelaranta
- Format
- HC (no dust jacket, as issued), 21 x 25 x 2,5 cm., 224 pp., color ills., multi-lingual texts: English / French / Finnish