Observatory, 2015

Observatory, 2015

Milja Laurila
Finland, b. 1982
From the series In Their Own Voice, 2015–16
Ink-jet prints on acrylic
© Milja Laurila, photo courtesy of the artist

Milja Laurila’s inability to remember the time she spent living in Tanzania as a small child led her to explore the relationship between photography, memory, and identity—the way one can look at a photograph of oneself without recognition. In the series In Their Own Voice, Laurila asks what it means to be observed in different pictorial regimes. She transfers existing medical photographs of female subjects to transparent acrylic and groups them in horizontal arrangements. In this new context, free from the diagnostic gaze, the figures appear to come to life, regaining individuality and grace.