Helsinki, KUVU, Turku

I am back from my trip to Finland, and it was as beautiful as I remembered but a lot warmer than when I was there back in January! I flew into Helsinki and stayed for a couple of days, then travelled onto Turku to see the "Alice in Wonderland Exhibition."

Helsinki was as wonderful as ever and I couldn't believe the difference the warmer weather makes to a city, many more people and a cafe culture I hadn't seen before. I met up with some friends from the Finnish Museum of Photography and went for an excellent, traditional Finnish meal at the fantastic Sea Horse, some say this is the authentic Aki Kaurismaki Helsinki experience, the interior is stunning and an atmosphere to match, many thanks to Anna-Kaisa and Tiina! As I wondered around the city, there was an abundance of antique shops with truly beautiful things, and lovely little bars, the image above demonstrates the lovely little/ and rather large finds you can seek out.

Then onto KUVU, (The Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts) to lecture. What a great environment to study and with a small department of only 200 students across all the Fine Arts, the students are very lucky! Then it was onto Turku.

I arrived in Turku to see the exhibition and take some more installation shots when there was now more than 6 hours of daylight! The show looks great and it was lovely visit the places I had been before and not forgetting to act as a tour guide for my parents. The trip was very enjoyable and what a great end, sitting drinking wine in one of my favourite restaurants Tintå , a stunning little Finnish wine bar overlooking the Turku River, great food, great wine and even better company - thank you!

http://www.seahorse.fi/ and http://www.tinta.fi/

BJP iPad App

"The Photograph as Contemporary Art" is now available on the BJP iPad App which was released on the 7th September - Issue one, Autumn 2011. My series is in the Portfolio section, to see a taster of the article read below:

Simon Bainbridge writes, "If Melinda Gibson’s photomontages look familiar, don’t be surprised. A flash of Ed Burtynsky here, a slice of Juergen Teller there, they are all made up of elements of some of the major works of the 1990s and 2000s, culled from the pages of The Photograph As Contemporary Art. Written and edited by Charlotte Cotton (former curator at the V&A and LACMA, and now creative director of the UK’s National Media Museum), it is one of the key texts for students starting out in photographic education. Which is precisely why the 26-year-old, who graduated from London College of Communication in 2006 and is now a visiting lecturer herself, chose to use it...."

Read more here: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/feature/2103858/photograph-contemporary-art