EXHIBITIONS \  Group Exhibition \  Elina Brotherus, Annabel Elgar, Aino Huhtaniemi, Peter Kostrun & Stephen J. Morgan

The Wapping Project Bankside is pleased to present new works by gallery artists Elina Brotherus (Finland), Stephen J. Morgan (UK) and Annabel Elgar (UK) and to introduce Peter Koštrun (Slovenia) and Aino Huhtaniemi (Finland) who will exhibit in our space for the first time.

Elina Brotherus (b. 1972, Finland) is one of the most accomplished photography and video artist of her generation. Her early work dealt with subjective experiences, but she distanced herself from the autobiographical approach with her iconic series The New Painting (2000-2004). Introducing geometrical landscapes and the study of the human figure, whose place within the picture she investigates, Brotherus probes the relation of photography to art history and finds inspiration in the iconography of classical painting. Recent solo exhibitions include Bloomberg Space, London; the Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki; Musée Nicéphore Nièpce, Chalôn-sur-Saône and the National Art Centre, Tokyo. Recent group exhibitions include The Brooklyn Museum; Maxxi (Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo), Rome. In 2008, she was awarded the Finnish State Prize for Photography, and in 2005, the Prix Nièpce, Gens d’Image.

Annabel Elgar stages her work in imagined places that might initially appear idyllic, but contain unsettling details that suggest otherwise. Her photographs recall strange fairy tales and cultish activity, but their subject matter is real life torments: relentless struggle between the rich and the poor, the home as a site of poverty and ruin; the family a source of treachery and despair. Annabel Elgar (b. 1971, UK) has recently shown at Metronom, Modena; FotoMuseum Antwerp; New Art Gallery Walsall; Galerie Polaris, Paris; the Museum of New Art, Detroit; Southampton City Art Galley; Month of Photography, Krakow and the Lodz Art Centre.

The works in Aino Huhtaniemi’s Autuas Aina – Photographs of Finnish Schools series (2011) were shot in 24 Finnish schools between 2009 and 2010. Building on shared memories of how schools look, smell and sound, Huhtaniemi portrays a mundane, yet vibrant national institution – a great source of pride for Finland, with warmth, candour and wit. Aino Huhtaniemi (b. 1982, Finland) graduated this year from the renowned Department of Media, Aalto University School of Art and Design with an MA in Photography. We are delighted to introduce her work for the first time in the UK.

In his series Present, Peter Koštrun’s (b. 1979, Slovenia) captures the atmosphere of the countryside in the immediate vicinity of his home, in Slovenia. His pastoral scenes are composed as intriguing visual poems: shrouded by a misty veil, his vaporous, softly luminous countryside lends itself to fantastic wanderings and silent contemplation. Peter Koštrun was one of the highlights of the last edition of Paris Photo. Recent exhibitions include the Venice Biennale of Architecture and MadridFoto (2011). He lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Taking on small photographic trips around areas connected to his childhood memories, Stephen J. Morgan’s understated but eloquent images display an evident closeness to his subject matter. They document passing details and footnotes, the accumulation of which reveals a candid capture of the spirit of these familiar places, and a stark portrayal of urban, working-class life in England. Stephen J. Morgan (b.1970, UK) has recently showed his work at Photon, Ljubjana, Slovenia; the Birmingham Central Library and Jerwood space. Forthcoming publications include Collecting Contemporary Photography, by Jocelyn Phillips, published by Thames & Hudson.