Elina Brotherus

Self-portraits (1998)

In one’s own private world everyone is like an origin of co-ordinates from where one preceives one’s environment. I study the emotional landscape and feelings of the individual and how he or she becomes part of the whole formed by the others. I express my studies in photographs.

The aspect of daring is essential to me. I want to transcend the emotional self-censorship and express to the viewer the seriousness of such moments. I treat strong emotions and have therefore chosen a reduced and simplified mode of expression. “The paradox of emotion lies in the fact that is expressed most beautifully when both pressure and restraint are present” (Jan Blomstedt).

Action and seriality are my recurring methods and a voyeristic attitude is one of my catalysts. Photography is a good medium for self-observation because of the time-lag between standing before the camera and seeing the result. One cannot observe oneself with a mirror, for there is a quick feedback between the mirror image and one’s own facial muscles: the viewer can only see his or her regular mirror-image face instead of finding a way beneath the surface

Elina Brotherus Helsinki, August 1998