Esiäidit Ancestress
in the Museum of Konnevesi 14.06-39.08.2025
Press release from Konnevesi Museum:
Photographer Sanna Elina Ahtisaari’s environmental installation Ancestors in the Stream of Life creates a fantastical dimension that gives form to the eternal flow of time. The work will be on view at the Ancylus Slope of the Konnevesi Museum from June 14 to August 30, 2025.
It is a part of Time of Water / Veden Aika festival of Konneveden Naistenviikot .
Inspired by the ancient Ancylus Lake that once surged through the Konnevesi region 9,000 years ago, the installation is situated on a former shoreline. It features women immersed in water—swimming, floating—evoking a timeless connection between past and present.
Ahtisaari is a photographic artist known for her documentary images and video work. Central to her practice is the concept of the “inner gaze”—a deeply personal perspective she has cultivated since moving from her hometown of Iisalmi to Paris in 1995. Her work explores the interconnectedness of time, the body, and nature, while reflecting on the universal cycles of life: birth, death, and transformation.
Selected images of exhibitions
In 2017 Sanna’s photographic installation Kasken Kierto, curated by art historian Marjatta Levanto, became the first public art piece showcased on Vallisaari island, now the site of the Helsinki Biennial.
Her latest commissioned public art work, for the Time of Water / Veden Aika festival in Central Finland, will open in summer 2025.
Exhibitions:
2023 PUNOJAT, photograph exhibition, Garden Room Helsinki
2023 SUNCHASE installation Kämp Galleria Helsinki
2021 PYHÄT MATOT istallation, Lapinlahti, Helsinki
2021 KASKEN KIERTO photographic lanscape sculpture, Lapinlahden puistikko, Helsinki
2020 YOU ARE NATURE photographic lanscape sculpture, Moisio
2020 LAND OF LOVE installation, Garden Room Helsinki
2019 MONOLIITTI installatio, Retretti
2019 LEHTO photographic lanscape sculpture, Punkaharju
2019 RIVER FLOWS photograph exhibition OFR Gallery, Paris
2018 YOU ARE NATURE photographic installation, Maison de l’Architecture, Paris
2018 HOLY TREE photographic installation, Galerie Patricia Dorfmann , Paris
2017 KASKEN KIERTO photographic lanscape installation, Vallisaari
2016 LIFE & EXISTANCE photographic installation, OFR Gallery, Paris
2015 KASKEN KIERTO photographic exhibition, Eemil Halonen Art Museum
2013 KOTATAKKI installation, Hyvinkää Art Museum
2012 KOTATAKKI installation, Design Museum Helsinki
2010 THERE IS A FOREST IN ALL OF US, installation, Agnes b, Paris
2009 Floating Density, photographic installation, OFR Paris
