Stranger
Mari Mäntynen
What would being together be without preconceptions about others, and unspoken rules? How would we encounter each other without past, future, opinions, or actions taken?
The Stranger -project includes photographs in which the artist Mari Mäntynen appears with strangers. Each picture is taken during the first encounter with the new person. They immediately step in front of the camera without getting to know each other.
The underlying idea of the photos suggests: We are each other’s environment.
During the image-making process, Mäntynen challenges social norms and with the person being photographed asks each other: How do we position ourselves in the photo? Can we touch each other? What can we do together? The images and poses are created in collaboration with the subject. After the photo is taken, there is time to settle and to talk about the experience, each other and look at the photographs.
Mäntynen studies social situations and problems by organizing them, participating in them, photographing them, and finally watching them with the participants. At its deepest, her intention is to create friction and tension that somehow changes reality. Mäntynen’s working is subtle and exploratory, taking into account the power relations of photography.
The Stranger series is ongoing, and Mäntynen is constantly producing more images.
