Mikael Siirilä
FINLANDE
Born in Helsinki in 1978, Mikael Siirilä approaches photography as a slow-paced and reflective practice. He collects observations from his life and works in the darkroom to give them meaning.
Mikael Siirilä's reductionist images are built on details and fragments. His subjects appear lost in thought and disconnected from time and identifiable places. His visual style can be recognised by the pronounced film grain and dominating black elements. The image edges reinforce the mystery. The majority of his works observe themes such as outsiderhood, absence and presence.
Mikael Siirilä works exclusively with black & white film and the silver gelatin process. The darkroom allows him to approach the photograph as a handmade object. Small variations in print editions reveal the artist's touch, a rarity in the age of digital imaging.
Also notably Mikael Siirilä prefers to create photographs in relatively small size. For him, a photograph's true nature is built on the '1-hour photos' of his youth. Smaller size invites the viewer near. Studying the image becomes intimate, like reading a piece of poetry.
Mikael Siirilä belongs to the new wave of artists who have embraced social media as a serious and legitimate platform to present their work. His social following is global, and interest in his photography has increased rapidly in the past years.
• SERIES •
Here, in absence
Here, in absence
I translate intense looking into small, contemplative silver gelatin photographs. I collect observations from my daily life, family and travels. Then, I recontextualise them in the darkroom with recurring reflections on self, absence, presence and identity.
My pictures are observations in a strict sense, captured with minimal if any interference with the subjects. This ontological prerequisite positions my gaze as an outsider. The pictures are not the result of creative imagination or representation but rather a subjective recognition and response, self-expression. I make pictures I can become lost in, desperate to see more, feel more and live more.
I still believe in the standalone, intentional and iconic picture. My photographs appear unapologetically poetic, quiet and meditative. Due to their size, they ask the viewer to lean in and become aware of the image as an object. Fragmented, sometimes obscured and cropped subjects direct the viewer to feel presence outside the picture's edges.
I work exclusively with the silver gelatin process. I use overexposure, high acutance development and pure blue light to pronounce film grain and craft a graphic look. I use dominating black elements and negative spaces to reduce subjects to their essentials and lean towards the abstract. The warm golden-ivory toning with tea tannins helps the images feel familiar and approachable.