REVERSALS / RENVERSEMENTS
17.01-05.04.2025
Opening on 16.01.2025 in the presence of the artist, free admission.
Institut finlandais presents Reversals, an exhibition by emerging Finnish contemporary photographer Svante Gullichsen. In a series of raw and intimate self-portraits captured in Nordic wilderness, the artist narrates a challenging personal mental health journey, exploring its erosion and subsequent gradual reconstruction.
Caught in the uncertainty of the reversal, deep waters, harsh cold, soft mosses and rugged trees help create a secure place for the vulnerable mind and the fragile body to realign. As Gullichsen retrospectively explores his own experience living with mental illness, the exhibition invites us to reflect on the possibility of connecting to nature, to ourselves and to others, and of embracing both the dark and the light within us. The works call for understanding, dialogue and for destigmatising. To quote the artist, “beneath the calm surface, anything could be unfolding”.
In his newer works, Gullichsen takes a step back to dive into the broader societal questions of belonging, craving for community, and finding our place among others all the while being trapped in one’s own head. When we feel like an outsider, our need for self-acceptance pushes us to look deep within, to embark on a journey of self-discovery, to embrace who we are and to ultimately find our way back to ourselves.
Svante Gullichsen works with mental health -related themes in his self-portrait -focused photography, often with a strong mystical atmosphere, captured in the Finnish archipelago, Lapland wilderness, and in more recent works, landscapes of flooded fields and frozen waterfalls. At the core of Gullichsen’s thought-provoking photography is processing and narrating his mental health journey, his search to find his place while growing queer, addressing complex issues through nature. The stunning natural settings serve both as a stage and as a natural continuum for the artist’s thoughts and emotions. In his photography, Gullichsen highlights the longing of humans for security and speaks for their role as an integral part of nature – as an alternative to being separate and external observers.
Discover Reversals from 16 January to 5 April 2025 at Institut finlandais.