Gardens: Tanja Muravskaja and Light
Exhibition Design: Jevgeni Zolotko Consultant: Elnara Taidre
Installing: Mihkel Lember
Open:
Wed–Sat 13:00–19:00
Free entrance
Limited wheelchair access
Public Programme:
13.09, 14:00 Guided tour (in Estonian)
20.09, 14:00 Artist talk (in Estonian)
Thanks to:
Eesti Kunstiakadeemia, Eesti Kunstnike Liit, Hedi Jaansoo, Kai kunstikeskus, Laur Kivistik, Anna ja Vladimir Loginov, Taavi Rekkaro, Sirje Runge, Mėta Valiušaitytė
Saarinen House (Pärnu mnt 10, 5th floor)
Tanja Muravskaja’s photo series Gardens explores the lines between reality and image, while using water as a means of looking. The sea is not seen here as a mere motif – as it is – but instead the artist transmutes its form, whereas the visible is shaped by light and time. Thus, water ceases to be an illustration and becomes an experience that is both material and visual, interfering with the viewer’s memory, time, and internal states.
Muravskaja considers the use of water a conscious strategy for slowing down, as well as a counterpoint to the automated visual flows of the digital age. “With my works, I invite the viewers to pause for a moment and refocus their gaze – to turn away from the endless stream of news and images in order to restore sensitivity to light and time, and to notice how the image is formed in the here and the now. It is a journey to the grey areas between the visible and the invisible, bringing the viewer back to a heightened physical presence,” said the artist Tanja Muravskaja.
The exhibition will take place in the historic Saarinen House and will showcase a photo series printed by the artist herself in 2024–2025, the final selection and presentation of which will be designed especially for the Tallinn Photomonth exhibition. “Displayed in the exhibition space, the photographs form a spatial rhythm, creating an engaging environment where the viewers find themselves in the liminal space between the recognizable and the formless,” added Muravskaja. The exhibition is designed by the artist Jevgeni Zolotko and the exhibition consultant is art historian Elnara Taidre.
Tanja Muravskaja (b. 1978 in Pärnu, lives and works in Tallinn) is an acknowledged Estonian artist whose work focuses on questions of identity, collective and personal memory, as well as social boundaries.
Muravskaja has graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts (BA and MA in photography) and studied also at the University of Westminster in London (photography, exchange year). Her analytical and psychological approach sheds light on themes related to internal tensions and sense of belonging, both on an individual and social level. Muravskaja’s main series Positions, Estonian Race, They Who Sang Together, Self-portrait with the Estonian Flag and various video works belong to the collections of the Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Art Museum and multiple private collections, underlining her significant role in the Estonian art history.
She has had solo exhibitions at Tensta Konsthall (Sweden), WIELS (Belgium), Tartu Art Museum and participated in various international exhibitions, among which: EMST (National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens), MOCAK (Kraków), Art Encounters Biennial (Timișoara), GIBCA Biennial (Gothenburg), Ludwig Museum (Budapest), MACRO (Rome), Kiasma (Helsinki). Muravskaja has received various accolades, including the Köler Prize Grand Prix (2018) and the Order of the White Star, 5th class, of the President of the Republic of Estonia (2019).