Inspired by visits to abandoned houses in Valencia, Spain, Such is the Silence addresses our corporeal connection to time and place. In this series of work, Orpana poses for and with the camera, creating a narrative and tension between the place and her own presence. She explains, “As I step into the room, my subconscious starts to form narratives of fictitious past events that I recreate through the character depicted in the images that I call Miss Silence.”

Through the presence of Miss Silence the rooms come to life once again. Yet without shared memories or a connection to the houses, a tension is created between the place and Orpana’s own presence, subtly navigating timelessly—neither in the past nor the present—on the borderlines of truth and fiction.

From the layers of time lurking in the corners of the rooms, Such is the Silence also addresses questions of existence, identity and memories: Whose past is present when spending time in these houses? What happened in these rooms a hundred years ago?

Such is the Silence (2019-2021) was presented as an installation consisting photographs, a video, wallpaper and found objects—creating a story-like installation where each part was in a dialogue with the other.

The Camera House presenting Such is the Silence by Essi Maaria Orpana was designed and built by Josephine Bailey, Amalie Bonde Fabricius, Isabella Eid Larsen, Emilie Schleppegrel and Elisabeth Friis Torp, Bachelor students from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Royal Danish Academy, under the supervision of Architect and teacher Kristian Hansen, from Marstal Søfartsmuseum. Head of the Bachelor program is Architect, Associate Professor Jacob Sebastian Bang.

Her participation was supported by the Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark and FRAME Finland.