Photography from the Estonian Diaspora
Location: 4th floor, B-wing
The exhibition introduces work produced by Estonian photographers who worked in Europe and North America after World War II, as well as material from the photo archives of the Estonian diaspora related to cultural history.
After World War II, there was hardly a family in Soviet Estonia that did not receive letters and photos from relatives that had escaped abroad. These shaped the thinking of those who remained in Estonia about the world on the other side of the Iron Curtain. At the same time, the photography of the Estonian diaspora, which functioned as a means of communication for a half century, also possesses a strong and personal identity as a photographic phenomenon, and several Estonians who worked as photographers achieved significant professional success and recognition.
The community that fled to the West in order to escape the Soviet regime dealt with culture from two opposing positions, which are clearly visible in the photos – the national and timeless culture that remains unchanged, and international contacts with other cultures. New cultural contacts provide the basis for progressive developments, and the exhibition demonstrates the tremendous leap made by photography as practised by the Estonians who went to the West. Photography was initially used by the refugees in an ethnographic and archival context to record the events related to their escapes and lives in refugee camps. However, in the West the photographers came in contact with totally different photographic traditions, which included the practices of a highly developed information society and which, even during World War II, made photography into an effective information channel. The Estonians who received their photographic education in the West achieved professional status and several of the photographers in this exhibition represent the most important post-war trends in photography.
The exhibition is the result of two years of archival research that focused on identifying the professional photographers working in the Estonian diaspora and the trends demonstrated by their work. In the course of the research, such familiar names as Karl Hintzer, Eric Soovere, Priit Vesilind and Alar Kivilo were supplemented by other photographers who were unknown to us, although they had often worked as professional photographers in their countries. These include Olavi Maru, Vello Muikma, Salme Parming, Rein Välme and Olav Heinmets. Alongside their work, material from Estonian photo archives abroad are on display – from the photo collections of the Teataja newspaper and the Estonian Archives in Sweden – the greater part of which are of unknown authorship.
Curators: Eha Komissarov, Ellu Maar
Exhibition design: Liina Siib
