documentary

WIESBADEN FOTOTAGE

Happy to share with you that my Finnish Teens photos are right now part of the Wiesbaden fototage exhibition in Germany. So if you happen to be in Frankfurt, do yourself a favor and make a day trip to the idyllic Wiesbaden and say greetings to my photos 🙂

Wiesbaden fototage is the oldest photographic biennale in Germany and you can find my photos in the gallery of ”Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst”. Finnish Teens was curated to the exhibition by amazing Katja Maria Nyman.

Peace & Love, Aki-Pekka Sinikoski

MJ IN KUUKAUSILIITE

MJ by Aki-Pekka Sinikoski

Great news! Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest newspaper in Finland has published parts from my photo series “MJ” in Kuukausiliite (monthly published high quality magazine) as a photo portfolio.

Oh, and just to let you know that “MJ – World Tour (the exhibition)” will take place in 2015. Drop me an email, if you have a suitable event/exhibition/venue for “MJ”. My artist statement can be found below.

My artist statement can be found below.

Peace & Love, Aki

MJ – ARTIST STATEMENT

MJ by Aki-Pekka Sinikoski

MJ by Aki-Pekka Sinikoski

Who am I? The photograph suggests me an identity – permanent and almost everlasting. But I’m more than that.

I’m inhabited by several identities that switch around, change, and refuse to take a permanent form. I’m different at every moment. The light knows none of us. It can’t tell me who I am. The light hits the surface and exposes only what is visible.

As a photographer I am interested in the surface, identity and change. I have been shooting a series of documentary images of a Finnish young man who has dressed as Michael Jackson for the last four years. Every day. I believe that my series deals with finding one’s own identity and the courage to follow one’s own path. At the same time the images pose the question of how much can we know about a person based only on their outward appearance.

Michael-Jan is not Michael Jackson. The outward identity that seems familiar to everybody sets him apart from the crowd, but at the same time it hides the person inside.

The boundaries of reality are blurred in the grocery store when a Finnish housewife starts to blame Michael-Jan for things related to the life of the pop icon, deceased in 2009. The lady looks at Michael but does not see him. She sees only the reflecting surface which resembles someone else. All of a sudden Michael-Jan is invisible.

Who do people see when they look at me? Who do they see in my images?

TALK TALK TALK

Are you in Helsinki tomorrow? If you want to hear about Aki-Pekka Sinikoski’s (and some of his colleagues’) thoughts about working with long documentary photo projects you are more than welcome to Helsinki Exhibition Centre on Friday afternoon (March 8, 2013). Then grab a good cup of coffee and let your feet guide you to the main stage at 1 pm. Event is arranged by Photo RAW and Musta Taide.

As usually Peki hasn’t worked only with long documentary projects but also with a hell of a lot of other interesting stuff. Sometimes in the super near future we will do the major update for KOREA‘s webpage. So beware to do some clickidi clicks with you macidi macs because new stuff we will hit here soon.