Marja Pirilä

Basic information

b. 1957, Rovaniemi, FI
visual artist, photographer
Residence: Tampere, FI

Contact information

Phone number: +358 (0)407166 979
Show biography

Current information

Gallery Heino, Helsinki, Finland
"In Strindberg's Rooms", solo exhibition
10 January–11 Mars 2018

Serlachius-museum Gösta, Mänttä, Finland
"In Strindberg's Rooms", solo exhibition
30 September 2017–21 January 2018

Photo Basel/ Gallery Heino
Basel, Swizerland
12–17 Jun 2018

Stadtgalerie Kiel, Germany
11 March–28 April 2017
"Zwischen Licht und Dunkelheit"
curated by Ritva Röminger-Zako

National Media Museum, Bradford, UK
17 March–25 June 2017
"Poetics of Light"

Bio

Fine art photographer Marja Pirilä specialises in the camera obscura technique since the 1990s. Pirilä is known for the dreamlike photographs with merging of interior and exterior worlds. For Pirilä camera obscura is a method by which to survey the living environment and mental landscapes, to summon subconscious feelings into the light of day. Her extensive production with a range of different projects has always a focus on light and its power to entrance. Pirilä explores the possibilities of the medium in her works, focusing her attention not only on the images she creates, but also on the construction of three dimensional camera obscuras she makes in collaboration with fine art photographer Petri Nuutinen.

Marja Pirilä graduated in 1986 as a photographer from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland and as Master of Science from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Marja Pirilä’s works have been exhibited widely in Finland and around Europe, North and South America and Asia. Her work is included in several major public and private collections.
In 2000 Pirilä was awarded the State Prize for Photographic Art. She has published 7 photo books. In 2014 a retrospective photo book "Carried by Light" was published about her work.