Arno Rafael Minkkinen: Two Hundred Seasons at Fotografiska, Stockholm, reviewed by David Ford
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The most common reaction to Arno Rafael Minkkinen’s photographs (currently on display at Fotografiska in Stockholm) is ‘how did he do that?’ or a gasp of recognition as the viewer realises it is Minkkinen’s body they are looking at, rather than a rock or a tree.
Minkkinen is a Finnish American photographer (born in Helsinki in 1945) who takes naked self-portraits in which his body becomes part of the landscape. Each picture is a single negative black and white shot, with the camera’s timer giving Minkkinen just enough time to get into position. They are the record of a performance. None of the photographs are manipulated or edited so there is an element of chance involved with each picture.
The photographs are not an exploration of a particular physical being in the way, for example, that John Coplans’ photographs focus on and scrutinise his own body. Nor are they photographs of a specific landscape, though the mountains, lakes and skies depicted are often beautiful. Instead they are photographs of the body (his face is rarely seen) as a landscape in itself, or as an integral part of a wider landscape.
The use of Minkkinen’s naked body makes us look afresh at the natural world. In Halfway up Mount Mitchell, Burnsville, North Carolina, 2013 Minkkinen’s outstretched arm seems to grab the trunk of a distant tree. It is an old trick of photography but it forces us to notice the lichen covered bark, the pattern of the leaves silhouetted against the sunlight and the merging of the hills and the clouds in the distance. We know the hand is not really gripping the tree but it becomes part of it, and in doing so, brings together the various elements of the picture into a satisfying and beautifully balanced whole. Minkkinen uses this trick of perspective several times. In From the Shelton, looking east, 2005 his hands seem to pull apart two skyscrapers outside the hotel window to reveal the New York street below.
Minkkinen often uses the reflection on the surface of a lake to create startling images. In Fosters Pond, 1990, his stacked feet emerge from the icy water to form a totem whilst in Oulujarvi Afternoon, 2009, his arched body becomes a dome-like island in the middle of a lake.
Other pictures show the body contorted and twisted into extraordinary positions. Minkkinen has said that he uses his own body because of the risks involved in pushing it to the limit – whether this is balancing it over the edge of ravine or subjecting it to extreme cold and heat. But here the body is used to celebrate nature rather than to express psychological angst, perhaps as in the photographs of Dieter Appelt, for example.
The use of viewpoint can be unsettling. In White Sands, New Mexico, 2000, Minkkinen’s leg, feet and arm become the gnarled trunk of an ancient tree pushing both down and upwards from the desert sand. In Vaisalansaari, 1998, his body is squeezed between two silver birch trees in such a way that he becomes an inseparable part of them.
Although most of the photographs show Minkkinen alone, there are some which also feature Laurence, a female model. In Ta Cerc, Gozo, Malta, 2002, her naked torso is suspended horizontally high above the sea, seemingly held in place only by Minkkinen’s hand which cups the back of her head. In St Lawrenz, Gozo, 2002, she stares out to sea whilst four hands crawl round her waist and shoulders.
The exhibition at Fotografiska is titled ‘Two Hundred Seasons’ and it covers all periods of Minkkinen’s output over the past fifty years, from the first self-portraits in the early seventies to the most recent work. His pictures are unique and stand outside of current fashions. Taken together, these photographs form the longest running and most consistent exploration of the male form in modern photography.
Minkkinen’s photographs say something important about our relationship with nature and about both the resilience and fragility of the human body. They are a vital antidote to these difficult times.
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Arno Rafael Minkkinen: Two Hundred Seasons continues at Fotografiska, Stockholm until 18 April 2021.
With thanks to David Ford for this review.
