Exhibition at Højbro Plads // Hilla Kurki – Almost All the Flowers in My Mother’s Garden, 2022
Exhibition in public space // Højbro Plads // 1-11 June
In her exhibition Almost All the Flowers in My Mother’s Garden Hilla Kurki portrays her mother’s flowers. Flowers are her mother’s passion and she “grows” them as she “grew” her daughters. In Finnish the same verb can be used for implying “to grow” or “to raise”.
In a way, her mother's flowers symbolise the daughters, each a beautiful, individual creature. All of them convey their stories and the care and attention all daughters deserve to grow. Her series is accompanied by texts of various intimate memories collected from anonymous daughters.
The exhibition at Højbro Plads is part of Copenhagen Photo Festival taking place 1 to 11 June in both public space in the city and at the festival center on Refshaleøen, where you can see another part of Hilla Kurki’s project exhibited.
Hilla Kurki (1985, Finland) lives and works in Helsinki. Kurki's work is linked to her personal life, which she presents as a universal experience that everyone faces at some point in their lives. Since 2016 she has exhibited in various international venues and art fairs and her work was selected for Elles X Paris Photo in 2018.
The project presented by Copenhagen Photo Festival was published as a book by Khaos Publishing in 2022 and selected among the Most Beautiful Books of 2022 by the Finnish Book Art Committee.
Hilla Kurki has been selected among 250 participants from all over the world, through an open call on this year’s overarching theme ‘Rewilding’ which contributes to the conversation about sustainable urban development and sustainable art in public space as part of Copenhagen being UNESCO World Capital of Architecture in 2023.
The festival headliners 2023
Image credit: Nanna Heitmann
Copenhagen Photo Festival is happy to announce the six solo artists who have been selected as this year's headliners at Copenhagen Photo Festival 2023. This summer, photographs will literally be sprouting all over Copenhagen, when the selected six photographers engage with the theme rewilding and present us with new perspectives on an important, current topic.
The six solo artists exhibiting at Copenhagen Photo Festival 2023 explore this year’s theme rewilding in the widest sense of the concept and the complexities it entails. From the rewilding of nature to climate issues and diversity to the rewilding of other spheres e.g. bodies, society, social structures or art in itself.
From Magnum and AI photography to rewilding street photos and flower portraits
Each artist present their own perspective on rewilding and engages with it in an intriguing way – from classic photography techniques , AI technology, 'rewilded' street photography to portrait photography with a green twist, critical climate narratives and documentary photos, where stories about identity, healing and belonging sprout in new ways.
The six announced solo artist for the 2023 festival are:
Rewilding dilemmas
The concept rewilding refers to a process of letting nature regulate itself without human interference. Instead of ‘caring’ for nature in a way that serves human purposes or profits, rewilding seeks to restore, repair, cure or even heal nature in a sustainable way that serves nature in itself and aids our gasping climate and biodiversity. The concept has flourished in recent years and proposes solutions but also contests existing (man-made) structures and power relations.
We look forward to presenting the works of each artist with a solo exhibition at our festival centre on Refshaleøen or in the public space of Copenhagen.