Freedom of the Image

Vantaa Art Museum Artsi 2.6.-15.8.2020

What limits the freedom of the image? Do the rules applicable to the freedom of expression also apply to images? This exhibition presented by the Vantaa Art Museum Artsi explores the concept of freedom of expression and its manifestation in the world of images, and how images can deal with difficult social issues. The exhibition shows works by a younger generation of illustrators and cartoon artists whose work has focused on social phenomena in recent years. Out of the works selected for the exhibition themes, issues and recognizable public figures emerge, showing how timely and pervasive the subject matter is.

“We are delighted to add cartoon artist Ville Ranta's famous cartoon of the trial of City Councilor Junes Lokka and journalist Johanna Vehkoo to the exhibition. Ville Ranta auctioned the drawing on social media to cover part of Vehkoo's legal costs with the profit of the sale. The work has been kindly lent to the exhibition by the Journalist Association of Finland, who bought the piece”, says curator Jean Ramsay. Other socially aware cartoon artists on show are Emmi Nieminen and Hannele Richert. An artist operating within the interface between cartoons and more traditional art is Karstein Volle from Norway, who makes illustrations for Le Monde Diplomatiqué and Into Publishing, among others. Tuomas Tiainen, a collection artist at the Vantaa Art Museum, has created a series of new works titled Septic Freebies especially for this exhibition. The freedom of pictorial expression is also examined by the Lupta Femeilor (= Women’s Fight) group (Dima Elena, Ioana Silion, Gina Stanescu, Gabriela Bancuta, Rodica Izabella, Dinu Mariana, Maria Caldarar, producer Anna Miettinen and artist Katriina Haikala). The exhibition includes a photo and video installation compiled by the group. Haikala gave Romani women a camera each to document their daily lives. The installation also includes interviews and high quality studio photo portraits of women by Haikala.

In addition to this, the exhibition features a graffiti piece, painted on the exterior wall of a house set for demolition by a graffiti artist in Riihimäki during The Night of the Arts on August 23, 2019. The piece shows US President Donald Trump shooting himself in the head. The organizers of The Night of the Arts in Riihimäki allowed this potentially controversial subject because they did not want to censor the artistic freedom of the painters, as this is one of the key principles of graffiti and street art. The work sparked intense debate and criticism on social media. For example, the image was not considered suitable for children. The artist defended himself, explaining that he wanted to take a stand on Trump's anti-immigration policy and the loose arms laws of the United States. For the same reasons, Trump is also a frequent subject in Karstein Volle’s and Ville Ranta’s work.

“The Riihimäki Trump piece has been removed from its original location and moved to Artsi for documentation. The documentation of the graffiti work applies not only to the actual work, but also to the discussion around it, which focuses on issues like artistic tolerance, censorship and artist freedom. At the same time, documentation of graffiti and street art is part of the recording of the phenomena of the Finnish graffiti field. The Riihimäki Trump will be added to the Artsi collections only through documentation”, says Anna Hjorth-Röntynen, the museum's director.

Alongside The Riihimäki Trump, the exhibition features a piece from Hävetkää! (=Shame on you!), which attracted similar public attention in early 2016. Hävetkää! is a graffiti painting painted by local graffiti artists Hende and Deos on a plywood wall surrounding a construction site, criticizing Vantaa sports decision-makers for misuse of funds allocated towards youth sports. Hävetkää! is part of the collection of the Vantaa Art Museum. The work is a time- and location based graffiti related to the social debate surrounding it, and was not designed to be permanent in its materials or execution. However, Artsi has retained and added to its collections the debate and original photos linked to the piece.

All works in the exhibition have been selected primarily on the basis of artistic merits and topicality. The exhibition is open from February 14 to May 17, 2020.