Kia Orama
ANNI, part 1
23.1.–10.2.2013
Galleria Huuto Uudenmaankatu
Near my parents’ house there is an old and beautiful yet modest wooden house with a glass porch. I have always been fascinated by that house, even though I no longer live at home. The house belonged to Anni. We called her “the old lady” and hence the house was called “the old lady’s house”. Anni was a happy old lady who used to wear a casual dress and a floral apron when taking care of her beautiful garden. I often saw her on my way home and every time we would say hello and talk about something. I took my first pictures of the house over ten years ago. I first started photographing the house without telling the owner. I took the pictures from the outside in different light conditions and during different times of the year.
The aim of my project is to tell a story about that house, how things changed as the owner got older, what happened to the house once the owner died and the relatives take on the responsibility, how the house became empty little by little as the furniture and other belongings were carried out and how the attic, basement and closets turned from storage areas into empty spaces and how the rooms became eerie stages once stripped bare.
The photos depict the house, but above all, they depict a person’s relationship to a place. The new owner, Anni’s granddaughter, respects the characteristics and history of the house. She takes good care of the house. The plastic flowers have been left on the porch and there are plants sitting on the windowsills. Curtains still hang in the windows so that those who go by don’t see that the house is abandoned.
I have photographed the house for this project several times since the spring of 2012. The changes and the passing of time can be seen in the pictures. It has been interesting to see how my reactions vary every time I see the photos. Today I may think something is uninteresting, but the next time I may find it extremely fascinating.
The first part of the project, which will be displayed at Galleria Huuto, focuses on the time during which the house becomes emptier and changes. The house is beyond repair and therefore it will be demolished and replaced with a new house that will be similar to the old one. This will begin the second stage of this project.
Kia Orama (b. 1978) is a photographer and an art educator. Currently she works as a photography and arts teacher at Västra Nylands folkhögskola in Karjaa and as a freelance photographer for interior design magazines. She also runs workshops at the Ateneum Art Museum and at Kiasma. After Galleria Huuto, the Anni exhibition will continue its journey to the Zebra gallery in Karjaa (1–23 March 2013).
