Viewing Room

Tuesday, 29 October 2024

Sanna Kannisto

Sanna Kannisto

Merops Apiaster, 2024
Pigment Print
81 x 61 cm

In her works, Sanna Kannisto explores the intersection between nature, science, and art. During numerous stays in South America, along with her recent work in Finland, she became a visual researcher, borrowing methodologies from the natural sciences, anthropological practices, and still-life painting traditions. As part of her artistic process, she stages portable "field studios" to photograph birds. By removing the subject from its original natural context, the viewer’s attention is directed towards its specific characteristics and movements.
While her work is significantly influenced by the quasi-scientific methods of conceptual art, it offers a poetic perspective on natural phenomena, with a particular emphasis on the sculptural quality of a bird in motion. There is striking tension between the liberated motion of the birds and the fixed nature of the photograph in which they are enclosed.