Ritta Ikonen
Photo courtesy of the artist.
On my regular walk around Loch Achmore, in late April I was surprised to see so many people enjoying the usually deserted loch. Four anglers angling, a family of four, stomping in wellies and a swimmer approaching in the brightest red dry robe I have ever seen. A casual greeting and nod of the head on passing was all I managed before proceeding on my way. But as I started up the hill back to my home it dawned on me who the swimmer was, Riitta Ikonen. Riitta was here for a series of events promoting her collaborative project Eyes as Big as Plates which included a exhibition of large photographs at Island Darkroom, a talk at An Lanntair and a beach workshop at Reef on Bhaltos. So a visit to Island Darkroom was essential.
Ritta Ikonen
Originally from the deep forests of eastern Finland, Riitta Ikonen works through performance, wearable sculptures, participatory performances and mail art. After completing her MA at the Royal College of Art in London in 2008, she has exhibited internationally holding shows at the Barbican Centre, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Peabody Essex Museum and the London and Pyeongchang Olympics. Ikonen lectures at schools and universities and advocates for interdisciplinary collaboration for actionable change.
Eyes as Big as Plates began in 2011 as a collaborative project between Norwegian-Finnish artist duo Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen. Initially conceived as a play on characters from Nordic folklore, the project has grown to over 150 portraits created in 17 countries across five continents. The duo works through complementing skills through photography, wearable sculpture and text, with a core mission to highlight dialogue on radical system change on interspecies relations.
Hjorth and Ikonen photograph their collaborators, often individuals actively involved or impacted by effects of this era of mass extinction: Farmers, surfers, grandmas, citizen scientists, rewinding experts, wild boar hunters, mycologists, philosophers, etc. outdoors, camouflaged in organic materials sourced from their surroundings. Each portrait is a dialogue between the collaborator and their living environment, capturing the individual’s belonging to the so-called ‘nature’ and questioning the boundaries between beings.
Eyes as Big as Plates has previously been shown at the Barbican (UK), Musee de la Civilisation (CA), Preus National Museum of Photography (NO), Festival D Avignon (FR), Rachel Carson Cente or Ero Photo and SociNDy (DE),
DiRosa Center for Contemporary Art (US), Norwegian National Museum, Salamanca Arts Centre (Tasmania), Landskrome Fontestival (SE), Fotogalleriet (NO), Pioneer Works (NY), Shoot Gallery (NO), The Museum of Contemporary Arts Kiasma (FI), NADA Miami, Art Toronto, The Nordic House (IS), The Finnish Institute in Oslo, Paris and Stockholm,
Seibu Shibuya (Japan), Villa Borghese (IT), Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (US), Bogota International Photo
Biennale (Colombia), gallery FACTORY (South Korea, The Nordic House (Faroe Islands), The National Museum of Greenland, Galleri F15 / Punkt ® (NO), Ann Lantair Arts Centre (Stornoway), National Arts Centre (CA), Gyldenpris Kunsthall (NO), Peabody Essex Museum (US), and Museum Bruges (Belgium).
The series has been covered widely in the press, including The Huffington Post, Artsy, BBC, Deutsche Welle, TIME LightBox, Artsy, Libération, La Repubblica, Artlink Australia, Internazionale (IT), NRK Nasjonalgalleriet (NO).
The first Eyes as Big as Plates book was nominated for Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards in the category 'First Photobook' as one of 20 shortlisted books out of nearly 1000 entries. Each book in the (now sold out) first edition is hand-finished, unique with thinly pressed leaves veiled underneath the cover cloth to honour each of the unique collaborators in the project.
The artists met after Riitta typed three words 'Norway, Grannies, Photographer' as an internet seach and emailed Karoline who was the top search result.
Finnish artist Riitta Ikonen (b.1981) graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2008, with an MA in Communication Art. Ikonen's work, encompassing wearable sculptures, performance and photographs has since been in curated solo and group exhibitions in Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Tate Britain, NADA Miami, and London 2012 Olympic Park and 2018 PyongChang Olympics amongst others. She is a winter swimmer, mobile sauna instigator and an amateur mycologist.
Karoline Hjorth (b.1980) is a Norwegian photographer, artist and writer. She completed her BA Photographic Arts and MA International Journalism from the University of Westminster (London) in 2009. Her first book Mormormonologene (Press Publishing) was published in 2011, followed by Eyes as Big as Plates, (jorth & Ikonen, Press, 2017) and Time is a ship that never casts anchor (Hjorth & Ikonen, 2018). Her latest book, Algoritmeanekdoter (Algorithm anecdotes) was published by Press in February 2019.
See news about current and upcoming exhibitions or get a copy of the Eves as Bia as Plates 2 book via the QR code or at www.eyesasbigasplates.com
