Forest #51, 2022
Pigment print
203 x 139.5 cm
Santeri Tuori has a very personal relationship in his approach to nature, much like the Impressionist painters of the 19th century. Although he uses the photographic process to create his images, his subjects have their roots in traditional landscape painting and drawing. By observing and measuring nature's ever-changing growth from season to season, year after year, Tuori uses his photographs as means to encapsulate the passage of time. This conceptual process is achieved by layering one photographic negative upon another to create his own imaginary landscape.
The series Forest has been photographed on the remote island of Kökar in the archipelago between Finland and Sweden. After finding a specific location, he then begins to photograph it from that exact position, season after season, over many years. His images are constructed not only by the act of layering but also by how he interweaves black-white images with other color negatives to invoke a sense of "time being." These unique compositions radiate with a feeling of depth within the photograph that lures the viewer in. Tuori's time-based images become visual portals that capture nature's metamorphosis from one frame to another, lending the photos a more graphic quality, like a color-pencil drawing.