Back
Exhibitions
Marja Pirilä, Satoko Sai +Tomoko Kurahara - inner landscapes, other stories
2024/3/2 Sat - 4/14 Sun
March 2 – April 14, 2024
Thursday–Sunday: 1:00–6:00 PM
Monday–Wednesday: By appointment only
Thursday–Sunday: 1:00–6:00 PM
Monday–Wednesday: By appointment only
Opening Reception: 2024年3月2日（土）18:00-20:00
Introduction
inner landscapes, other stories
Stories of someone who may have crossed paths at the same place, at the same moment.
inner landscapes, other stories is a spin-off project of inner landscapes, tokyo by Marja Pirilä and Satoko Sai + Tomoko Kurahara.
In 2018, the artists interviewed eight individuals in their 70s and 80s living in eastern Tokyo, revisiting childhood memories through their family photo albums. During her three-week stay in Tokyo, Pirilä created a series of portraits using the camera obscura technique, while Sai and Kurahara produced ceramic portraits inspired by the interviewees’ photographs and stories. These works were later presented in the 2021 exhibition inner landscapes, tokyo.
Throughout this creative process, the artists came to know Keiko, Takashi, and Iris—the subjects of the current work—and formed brief yet intimate connections with them. Belonging to a younger generation than the previous participants, they are directly or indirectly linked to people and places involved in earlier stages of the project. Following its earlier chapters in Turku and Tokyo, this spin-off project seeks to portray their stories anew.
During her stay in Tokyo, Pirilä photographed each of them in their rooms or temporary residences. By darkening the room and allowing light through a small lens opening, she transformed each space into a camera obscura—a “dark chamber” where the outside world appears upside down inside the room. Within this surreal space, she captured portraits with a regular camera, sharing an intense and reflective moment with her subjects.
In 2023, Sai and Kurahara conducted follow-up interviews with the three. Tracing memories through their childhood photo albums, fragments of vivid and hazy recollections emerged—images drifting between past and present. By layering these impressions and transferring photographs onto clay, then firing them, the artists sought to give form to these ephemeral intersections of memory and material.
Though photography and ceramics may seem worlds apart—in substance and in process—both, the artists note, share the act of burning time into matter. This exhibition also includes smaller works from each artist, reflecting their own memories of the neighborhoods visited during the project.
It has been nearly fourteen years since the inner landscapes project began in Turku, Finland, in 2010. Over this time, while the artists’ personal and social environments have evolved, the project has continued thanks to the collaboration and support of many people. The artists extend heartfelt gratitude to the models and everyone who has contributed to the journey.
We also invite you to visit the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, where the original inner landscapes, turku series is currently on view as part of the exhibition Remembrance: Contemporary Expressions in Photography and Moving Images.
February 2024
Marja Pirilä, Satoko Sai + Tomoko Kurahara
Stories of someone who may have crossed paths at the same place, at the same moment.
inner landscapes, other stories is a spin-off project of inner landscapes, tokyo by Marja Pirilä and Satoko Sai + Tomoko Kurahara.
In 2018, the artists interviewed eight individuals in their 70s and 80s living in eastern Tokyo, revisiting childhood memories through their family photo albums. During her three-week stay in Tokyo, Pirilä created a series of portraits using the camera obscura technique, while Sai and Kurahara produced ceramic portraits inspired by the interviewees’ photographs and stories. These works were later presented in the 2021 exhibition inner landscapes, tokyo.
Throughout this creative process, the artists came to know Keiko, Takashi, and Iris—the subjects of the current work—and formed brief yet intimate connections with them. Belonging to a younger generation than the previous participants, they are directly or indirectly linked to people and places involved in earlier stages of the project. Following its earlier chapters in Turku and Tokyo, this spin-off project seeks to portray their stories anew.
During her stay in Tokyo, Pirilä photographed each of them in their rooms or temporary residences. By darkening the room and allowing light through a small lens opening, she transformed each space into a camera obscura—a “dark chamber” where the outside world appears upside down inside the room. Within this surreal space, she captured portraits with a regular camera, sharing an intense and reflective moment with her subjects.
In 2023, Sai and Kurahara conducted follow-up interviews with the three. Tracing memories through their childhood photo albums, fragments of vivid and hazy recollections emerged—images drifting between past and present. By layering these impressions and transferring photographs onto clay, then firing them, the artists sought to give form to these ephemeral intersections of memory and material.
Though photography and ceramics may seem worlds apart—in substance and in process—both, the artists note, share the act of burning time into matter. This exhibition also includes smaller works from each artist, reflecting their own memories of the neighborhoods visited during the project.
It has been nearly fourteen years since the inner landscapes project began in Turku, Finland, in 2010. Over this time, while the artists’ personal and social environments have evolved, the project has continued thanks to the collaboration and support of many people. The artists extend heartfelt gratitude to the models and everyone who has contributed to the journey.
We also invite you to visit the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, where the original inner landscapes, turku series is currently on view as part of the exhibition Remembrance: Contemporary Expressions in Photography and Moving Images.
February 2024
Marja Pirilä, Satoko Sai + Tomoko Kurahara
Event
Interactive Viewing Session: Facilitated by Keiko Ogawa and Rie Tanabe
① March 30, Wednesday 5:00–6:00 PM
② April 7, Sunday 1:00–2:00 PM (Tentative)
Details and registration information will be announced on POETIC SCAPE’s social media.
② April 7, Sunday 1:00–2:00 PM (Tentative)
Details and registration information will be announced on POETIC SCAPE’s social media.
Profile
Marja Pirilä, Photographer
Graduated in 1986 from the Department of Photography at the University of Art and Design Helsinki (now Aalto University) and the Master’s Program in Animal Ecology at the University of Helsinki. Since the 1990s, she has explored the artistic possibilities of the camera obscura technique. Her work, known for its dreamlike fusion of the inner and outer worlds, has received numerous accolades, including the Finnish State Prize for Photographic Art (2000). In January 2024, she held her solo exhibition Because of Light at Kunsthalle Helsinki, accompanied by a publication of the same title.
Satoko Sai + Tomoko Kurahara, Ceramic Artist Duo
Ceramic artists Satoko Sai and Tomoko Kurahara both majored in ceramics in the Department of Crafts at Tama Art University. Upon graduating in 2002, they formed the collaborative unit Satoko Sai + Tomoko Kurahara. Kurahara studied at the University of Art and Design Helsinki (now Aalto University) from 2002 and completed her master’s degree in 2005, while Sai spent 2005 studying in Korea. Together, they explore expressions through ceramics, incorporating elements of printmaking and photography to reflect themes of landscape, travel, and memory.
