Hannele Rantala

I regularly use photographs in my work, so that the place where the picture was taken is present always in the finished piece. The themes of searching, permanence and change recur throughout my work, and are evident also in the photos I use: they’re usually quick snapshots taken on the move, quick records of temporary states and transitions. I strive to give a disembodied feel to my works; they’re usually fleeting in some way or other. Objects have a tendency to turn to dust over time.

My pieces usually take the form of social sculptures that engage their viewers as equals. The viewers endow the works with meanings of their own, which is part of my overall outlook: the processual aspects of the artistic process, their preparation and reception, are more important to me than the finished pieces themselves. My pieces are usually the outcomes of combining texts and images, two very incomplete media for portraying reality.