Hidden stories
Denise Grünstein considers herself a romantic. Nature and landscapes act as settings for the photographic works. These large-scale pieces form a series of stories with no beginning and no end. They are like stills from a movie that does not exist.
In her pieces, the artist travels in between reality and dream. “I am interested in what I don’t understand,” says Denise Grünstein. However, she does not like to explain her works in too much detail. As the name of the exhibition suggests: Figure Out. Find things out by yourself!
HAIR BY THE SHORE
People are used to facing each other, but what happens when the eye contact and facial features are taken away? In some of her works, Grünstein puts hair at centre stage.
Hair, and especially the loss of it, has a strong symbolic value in Western society. Hair is a symbol of power and erotic attraction. Cutting off long hair or clipping off a ponytail are also rites of adulthood. Many believe that hair extensions add femininity and that wigs cover for lost hair. However, who are these women, whose hair is cut off in order to make these extensions, and who is ready to give up their hair for the beauty of another?
Grünstein’s Figure Out series was partly photographed in Skagen in Denmark, a place where the Nordic artists of late 19th century gathered to immortalise their objects in the transparent shore landscape.
Also reminding us of the traditions of old is the headrest seen in the work Headhunter. They were used by the early photographers to hold the target’s face in place for the exposure time that lasted several minutes. The side profile of the female figure is as though from a police archive picture wherein a person is depicted from different angles in order to make identification easier. The model does not see the viewer. She is only an object.
WHAT IS LEFT WHEN DIRECT CONTACT DISAPPEARS?
As the face is covered with the hair, the spectator never meets the eyes of the figure. In addition to the physique of the person, the spectator can observe the surface, materials, clothing, and hair. Not all Grünstein’s works even have a human figure, but maybe just a beautifully folded costume, dress, and a wig on a table or strewn across the sand. The peculiar simultaneous feeling of presence and distance makes the experience very dreamlike.
STAGES OF DANGER AND DRAMA
The colours of the glowing green forest surround the staged, even threatening, scenes in the series Figure in Landscape. By the woods you can run into a charming red-haired woman in a well cut outfit. The works reveal hidden signals of insecurity, fear of violence, and anxiety. You get the feeling that something is not quite right. There is an expectant atmosphere. Something is going to happen. Then, everything stops.
“Hold still!” Grünstein stops the movement of the model in the panoramic landscapes. Using a large negative size monorail camera requires the model to stand still for a while. The works also pay homage to classic photography.
In the series Malplacé, there is a nostalgic dimension as the artist returns to the places of her childhood in Hanko area. At the borders of nature and civilisation, there is a confused-looking woman who seems to be lost. In the black-and-white works, you do not hear the happy sounds of the childhood summers, but instead a darker undertone.
Satu Metsola
Denise Grünstein was born in Helsinki in 1950, but moved to Sweden as a small child. She is one of Sweden’s most famous photographers. Aside from her artistic work, she is also known for her advertisement photography, portraits, and other commercial work.
Denise Grünstein’s exhibition Figure Out from 30 April to 15 August on the fifth floor of Kiasma. Figure Out is the artist’s first major exhibition in Finland. She has had exhibitions at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (2001) and the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg (2005) and also several gallery exhibitions around Europe.
