Photography
#black and white #nature #self-portrait
Photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen Seamlessly Integrates His Body with the Natural World
Fosters Pond II, 1989. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
Finnish-American photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen has been capturing self-portraits of his nude body in natural surroundings for the better part of five decades. More than just existing in these scenic locations, Minkkinen fully merges his limbs and torso like a chameleon, blurring the lines between where the world ends and his body begins.
The methods used to create these bold and uninhibited shots pre-date the use of Photoshop by decades, instead relying on a simple 9-second shutter release that allows Minkkinen to quickly pose for each shot. He usually works completely alone, and won’t let anyone else look through his camera’s viewfinder, lest they instead be labeled ‘the photographer.’ What may appear as a simply composed photo with fortuitous timing, is often the result of Minkkinen taking dangerous risks as he submerges himself in strong currents, buries himself in ice, or balances precariously on the edge of a cliff. He shares from an article How to Work the Way I Work:
Many of my photographs are difficult to make. Some can even be dangerous. I do not want to have someone else coming in harm’s way taking the risks I need to take: to lean out off a cliff or stay underwater for the sake of my picture. We control how much pain we can tolerate; such information is unknowable by anyone else. Some of my pictures might look simple, but in reality they can test the limits of what a human body is capable of or willing to risk. Thus I title them self-portraits, so the viewer knows who is in the picture and who took it.
At the age of 70, Minkkinen was just awarded the 2015 Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and is currently finishing work on his 8th book. The photographer opens his first-ever solo show in Chicago tomorrow evening at Catherine Edelman Gallery titled 7 8 9 0 1, featuring a range of both old and new portraits. You can see more from the exhibition here.
Hands and Feet, White Sands, NM, 2000. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
Väisälänsaari, Finland, 1998. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
Oulujärvi Afternoon, Paltaniemi, Finland, 2009. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
Mouth of the River, Fosters Pond, 2014. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
Asikkala, Finland, 1992. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
10.10.10, Fosters Pond, 2010. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
Fosters Pond, 2000. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
Le Bouquet d’Arbres, Malmö, Sweden, 2007. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
Beach Pond, Connecticut, 1974. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery
#black and white #nature #self-portrait
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