Kinship Photo is a moment of contemplation. It is an exploration of the physical and virtual spaces through a Collaborative photogram. The Kinship procedure creates shadowlike images that turn the power structures of photographing upside down, and broaden the meaning of friendship.
Kinship photo is made for a festival participant who are tired of conference calls and seeks for a way to connect.
With this piece two people meet: one of them online and the other onsite at the festival premises or in a nearby location. With the help of gentle instructions and a material Envelope they explore the physical space of their close surroundings. The aim is to find elements, places, or ways of being that both participants feel kin of. When a mutual agreement has taken place, the two people with the chosen kinships get exposed onto a light sensitive paper. During the procedure, all parties have to stay still and focused. It is an opportunity to breath deep and contemplate on the closeness and distance between themselves and other beings. When the exposure is done, the picture on a light sensitive paper remains as a memory of that shared moment.
With this simple gesture we believe it is possible to create and explore new spaces and places that are not only virtual or physical, but genuinely both. They are experienced, shared Moments facilitated by light within communication technologies, and marked by light being trapped on photographic paper.
We, Dominik Fleischmann, Emilia Pennanen, Jenni Toivonen, Kristiina Mäenpää and Tatu Heinämäki, are from the MA Photography program at Aalto University ‘s School of Arts, Design and Architecture . Together with artist and mentor Maija Annikki Savolainen we have developed a photography-based work for the festival which includes multiple Collaborations between human participants and other beings. Our shared interest in photography is to explore its possibilities as a world-making practice.
Please sign up to take part in the project through this Google form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_NvujGdO1t-T4Eh_TGGYTvuUymKhIjpm0jIh6Orq7zDOXgg/viewform
Website: instagram.com/kinship.photo.gram/
Related Untitled Agenda Theme : Reimagining human
Photos: Kinship Photo Group (c)