A Trip to the Country. Ethnographic Types in Photography
Location: 3rd floor, B-wing
“Forgotten Estonian Photo” (1998) at Rotermann’s Salt Storage, a branch of Art Museum of Estonia, and the travelling exhibition “Johannes Pääsuke. The Man with Two Cameras” (2003) put together by Estonian National Museum, were the predecessors of this exhibition.
The exhibition “A Trip to the Country. Ethnographic Types in Photography” displays ethnographic photos taken in Estonia, with main emphasis on pictures taken by Johannes Pääsuke in Setumaa (1911–1915) and Saaremaa (1913), supplemented by amateur and professional shots taken in the same places, sometimes even of the same persons. The prevailing intra-cultural observations are accompanied by photos taken by Armas Otto Väisänen, a Finn, who explored his Finno-Ugric kinsmen in Setumaa. In addition to professional photographers (H. Tiidermann, J. Pääsuke, C. Bulla), ethnographic snapshots have been taken also by teachers, researchers of national museums, voluntary correspondents, collectors of old folk items, music researchers etc. A part of the exhibition is made up of photos taken in the I half of the XX century in Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Sweden, displaying similarities and differences in photographing rural subject in a cultural environment close to Estonia. A selection from “The Togo Album” (1911–1914) and the series taken of Kola Lapps “Maarf Leu’dd” (1973–1985) by a Finnish photographer Jorma Puranen add a spatial-temporal shift to the exhibition.
The display is accompanied by examples of the policy of building up the photographic collection of Estonian National Museum. The lifelong photo project of the Lithuanian Balys Buracs of Lithuanian villages and Jorma Puranen’s devotion to the social environment of the Lapps show photos a s means of archival practice. The Estonica-albums (1903) of Heinrich Tiidermann serve as a bold attempt to make a family display of Estonian people, objects and places he photographed especially for that purpose.
The photographic negatives and positives of the 30+ authors displayed come from: Estonian National Museum, Estonian Folklore Archives, Estonian History Museum, Estonian Film Archives, Latvian Folklore Archives, National Museum of Finland, Nordiska Museet, Slovenian Ethnographic Museum, and The Vytautas Great War Museum in Kaunas.
Curator: Liina Siib
A seminar called “A Trip to the Country. Ethnographic Construction in Photo and Film” will be held in Kumu auditorium on April 18, focusing on historical and modern aspects of ethnographic representation, on collection practices and the meaning of environment in the evolution of national identity.
The ten survived films by Johannes Pääsuke will be shown at the seminar.
