Image: Detail of Emilia Tanner’s artwork
Emilia Tanner: Impressions
Impressions is an exhibition of works on paper that have been embossed with the help of a printing press. The embossings are made by pressing the paper on to an uneven surface under high pressure that then creates a relief in the paper. Some of the surfaces used to make the embossings are made by meticulously carving a wooden board and others are made with found objects. It is through the process of doing where the emerging landscapes are discovered and explored on the paper. The light traveling over what used to be a flat surface now sets on the peaks and casts a long shadow into the valleys revealing the crevices deep within the landscape. The light reveals what seems to be nothing. By observing one can find oneself within the work. Subtle changes of light and the observers vantage point can change the work. A fine balance of what seems to appear and disappear, what is there but might not show is ever present in these embossings.
Text: Andreas Behn-Eschenburg
Emilia Tanner (b. 1990) is an artist working and living in Helsinki. In her work Tanner often uses paper as a raw material to explore ideas of time, temporality and perception. She approaches paper as a three-dimensional material that can be sculpted, transformed, manipulated and altered. Actions of repetitions and manipulations of the paper bring forth an intense desire to scratch the surface of what lies in front of us and discover something new. Recently she has been focusing on installations and working with light.
Tanner received her MFA in printmaking from The Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki in 2021. Her work has been exhibited in Finland and internationally. Tanner’s works have been on display in group exhibitions at Galerie Anhava (2022), Forum Box Gallery (2020) and most recently she had a duo exhibition at Kohta Taidehalli (2024). Tanner has been awarded with The Ducat Prize from The Finnish Art Society (2023) and was one of the nominees for the Queen Sonja Print Award in 2020. The exhibition is supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland.