Sanna Kannisto: Fieldwork
"Working alongside biologists in the rainforests of Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru and French Guyana, the photographerSanna Kannistocaptures her specimens with the click of a shutter. Using the tools and trappings of the scientific method as a backdrop,Kannistoexpands upon the almost futile efforts of science to catalog the chaos of the rainforest, creating scenes where nature is barely held at bay." -- Caroline Hirsch, The New Yorker, June 7 2011"Brightly lit, small-scale dioramas framed by black curtains and centering around exotic plants, butterflies, or birds look like a surrealist naturalist's version of the windows at Tiffany's.Kannistocan't help but be seduced by a tiny bat sipping nectar and a hummingbird in flight, but she's always alert to the way artifice subverts scientific objectivity and nature becomes unnatural." --The New Yorker, June 27 2011"Fieldworkis full of images carefully staged to show off her subjects at their most visually striking. A creeping vine, starkly silhouetted so that we can study its outlines, can seem threatening as a creeping snake. But a bat can seem as familiar--and as friendly-- as a butterfly." --The Wall Street Journal, May 28-29 2011"Breaking away from conventions of scientific documentation, which typically presents specimens in insolation and devoid of context,Kannisto'swork addresses the acts of staging and image-making. With her gentle humor,Kannistoboth recognizes and utilizes the constraints of science and photography alike, investigating the concept of truth in photography to challenge how we view and 'know' the natural world." --ArtDaily, May 26 2011