MARJAANA KELLA

Van Zoetendaal, 2002. Hardcover, 48 pages. 22 x 28. cm. Text in English and Finnish. Used. VG+. Marjaana Kella’s book investigates the nature of photographic portraiture: how–or–if the photograph’s description of surface physiognomy tells us anything of interior character and psychology. So what advantage does the photograph give us? As Kella writes, ‘A photograph is dumb and still. That’s why we can observe what’s on display on a very special way’. Unusual photography of backs of heads, and portraits of people in an hypnotic trance. What emerges is a compelling demonstration of that enigma called photography. The rear-view portraits are totally still, frozen, almost wholly non-gestural. We are compelled to observe shape and texture in the most minute detail. The hypnosis portraits are also still, but not frozen in quite the same way. A sense of movement, of facial expression and bodily gesture remains. However, the gestures are not ‘normal’ and we are left searching for clues on the surface to formulate our reading.