On the 4/2/2012 an exhibition opened in Helsinki, called ”Think of Finland” by the renowned British photographer Martin Parr. I got the chance to visit Laboratory on their opening night, thanks to Nokia Connects, so I wanted to share with you my thoughts about it.
I feel that in many ways Martin Parr managed to capture the true spirit of the Finnish culture – and summer. On the other hand the exhibition is very stereotypical and if you have grown up in a different area of Finland, you almost feel like a tourist looking at some of the photos. That should however be a good thing, if you as a Finn can see your home country from a different perspective. He chose not to capture that much of the modern Finland, but focused more on old traditions that live on from decade to decade. But as he said in his opening speech, ”my starting point in this was clichés”. It is not a very commercial exhibition in terms of selling Finland as an extraordinary country to visit – you perhaps do not look at the photos and think ”wow, I want to go there”. Instead it shows us the real life of locals, and that is a good contrast to all the other photos of Finland out there!
But 607 km is not enough to see all the best things Finland has to offer. Landscapes change, people change. Go to our beautiful archipelago and you can capture a fisher in his rowing boat at dawn, with a sheet of morning fog over the sea. Go to our design districts in Helsinki and you will find fashionable Finns and innovative local design. Go to our business headquarters or universities and you will see people creating success stories like Nokia, Rovio and Finnair as a few examples. Visit Lapland and you will find incredible untouched nature and people who hold on tightly to their old traditions. Although we are constantly developing as a country, some things will luckily never change or disappear.