Helsinki (Embrace), 1983
Gelatin silver print
6 3/16 x 7 3/8 in. (15.7 x 19.7 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Helsinki, Finland (Ducks on Broken Ice), 1973
Gelatin silver print
Image: 4 7/8 x 7 1/8 in. (12.4 x 18.1 cm)
Paper: 7 x 9 7/8 in. (17.8 x 25.1 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Helsinki, Finland (Birds on Broken Branch), 2002
Gelatin silver print
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Image: 4 3/8 x 5 7/8 in. (11.1 x 14.9 cm)
Paper: 5 7/8 x 8 in. (14.9 x 20.3 cm)
Image: 5 3/4 x 8 1/8 in. (14.6 x 20.6 cm)
Paper: 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Vörumma, Estonia, 2004
Gelatin silver print
Image: 6 1/8 x 8 3/8 in. (15.6 x 21.3 cm)
Paper: 7 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (20 x 25.1 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Paris, France, 2011
Gelatin silver print
Image: 9 5/8 x 6 3/4 in. (24.5 x 17.1 cm)
Paper: 11 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (29.2 x 24.1 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Fountain, Paris, 2011
Gelatin silver print
4 1/16 x 6 3/16 in. (10.3 x 15.7 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Moscow, Russia (broken down car), 1980
Gelatin silver print
Image: 3 1/2 x 6 3/8 inches
or image: 6 x 7 1/2 inches
Solovki, White Sea, Russia, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Image: 5 7/8 x 14 1/4 in. (14.9 x 36.2 cm)
Paper: 6 x 14 3/4 in. (15.2 x 37.5 cm)
Archival pigment print
9 x 21 1/2 in. (22.9 x 54.6 cm)
Helsinki, Finland (Child and Dog), 1981
Gelatin silver print
5 3/4 x 4 1/4 in. (14.6 x 10.8 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Outer Hebrides, UK, 2008
Gelatin silver print
4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches
Signed on recto
Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, 2018
Gelatin silver print
6 3/8 x 8 1/8 inches
Signed on recto
Iceland (Waterfall), 1980
Gelatin silver print
Image: 5 7/8 x 9 7/8 inches
Paper: 8 x 12 in. (20.3 x 30.5 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Fiskars, Finland, 1990
Gelatin silver print
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Image: 10 1/16 x 4 5/16 in. (25.6 x 11 cm)
Paper: 12 x 8 in. (30.5 x 20.3 cm)
Archival pigment print
Image: 34 7/8 x 15 in. (88.6 x 38.1 cm)
Paper: 39 1/8 x 17 in. (99.4 x 43.2 cm)
Co. Limerick, Ireland (two dogs), 1978
Gelatin silver print
Image: 7 7/8 x 9 5/8 in. (20 x 24.5 cm)
Paper: 9 3/8 x 11 3/4 in. (23.8 x 29.9 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Vietnam (white cats), 2011
Gelatin silver print
Image: 6 1/8 x 7 5/8 in. (15.6 x 19.4 cm)
Paper: 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Titled and dated in pencil on verso
Pyhäjärvi, Finland (Sleeping Boy and Dog), 2000
Gelatin silver print
Image: 5 1/2 x 8 1/8 in. (14.0 x 20.6 cm)
Paper: 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Western Cape, South Africa (bird and dog), 2002
Gelatin silver print
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Image: 3 5/8 x 5 in. (9.2 x 12.7 cm)
Paper: 4 7/8 x 7 in. (12.4 x 17.8 cm)
Image: 6 1/4 x 8 3/4 in. (15.9 x 22.2 cm)
Paper: 7 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (20 x 25.1 cm)
Panauti, Nepal (two children), 1994
Gelatin silver print
Image: 7 1/2 x 6 inches
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Hanoi, Vietnam, 2011
Gelatin silver print
8 1/8 x 5 1/8 inches
Signed on recto
Pécs, Hungary (two horses), 1979
Gelatin silver print
Image 6 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. (17.5 x 17.5 cm)
Paper 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
Swayambhunath, Nepal (two dogs), 1994
Gelatin silver print
Image: 5 3/4 x 4 1/4 in. (14.6 x 10.8 cm)
Paper: 8 x 6 in. (20.3 x 15.2 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Varanasi, India, 1999
Gelatin silver print
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
8 1/2 x 6 inches
Humlebaek, Denmark, 1999
Gelatin silver print
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Image: 4 7/8 x 3 13/16 in. (12.4 x 9.7 cm)
Paper: 7 x 5 in. (17.8 x 12.7 cm)
Image: 7 7/8 x 5 3/4 in. (20 x 14.6 cm)
Paper: 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Luxor, Egypt, 2001
Gelatin silver print
Image: 6 x 4 3/16 in. (15.2 x 10.6 cm)
Paper: 8 x 6 in. (20.3 x 15.2 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Houston, Texas (two birds), 1998
Gelatin silver print
Image: 4 3/8 x 5 1/4 in. (11.1 x 13.3 cm)
Paper: 6 x 8 in. (15.2 x 20.3 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Kitakata, Japan, 2005
Gelatin silver print
Image: 7 1/4 x 6 3/4 in. (19.7 x 17.1 cm)
Paper: 9 3/4 x 8 in. (24.8 x 20.3 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Jurmo, Finland, 2004
Gelatin silver print
Image: 4 1/4 x 5 in. (10.8 x 12.7 cm)
Paper: 5 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (14.9 x 20 cm)
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Kirkkonummi, Finland, 2016
Gelatin silver print
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
Image: 4 11/16 x 3 3/4 in. (11.9 x 9.5 cm)
Paper: 5 7/8 x 4 3/4 in. (14.9 x 12.1 cm)
Image: 9 5/8 x 8 in. (24.5 x 20.3 cm)
Paper: 12 x 9 3/8 in. (30.4 x 23.8 cm)
Nailya Alexander Gallery is pleased to present Pentti Sammallahti: The Two of Us, on view online from 14 November 2022 to 7 January 2023.
Our exhibition is inspired by the title of a 1920 epic poem by the poet and forerunner of Finnish literary modernism Aaro Hellaakoski (1893–1952). The poem’s title, Me Kaksi, can be translated as “We Two” or “The Two of Us,” and is also the title of a book of photographs by the celebrated Finnish photographer Pentti Sammallahti, published by Atelier EXB in France in 2021.
Hellaakoski is known for his brilliant use of rhyme as well as for the mix of avant-garde and fairytale styles in his philosophical and existential poetry. In Me Kaksi, he uses a satirical tone to reflect on the surreptitious closeness of two beings, exploring feelings of inadequacy and loneliness while attempting to articulate unspeakable truths. Similar sensations, as well as the fortuitous encounter of two beings, recur throughout Sammallahti’s work. Whether these beings are lovers or friends, fellow travelers or strangers, a man and his dog, or two birds or animals,
Sammallahti’s poetic images speak to the themes of attachment and tenderness, emotional bonds, and the experience of sharing one world together.
In her essay in Me Kaksi, the Swedish poet Marie Lundquist writes: “Sammallahti casts a gaze full of benevolence and empathy on men, animals, architectures and trees that populate the earth. It makes no difference. Everything is connected. There is everywhere the same loneliness, the same silence, the same nostalgia. How come I find myself so easily in these two horses standing there by the seashore in the Outer Hebrides, like toys placed here by a child? This may be because their portrayal emphasizes their vulnerable tenderness and the image is stripped of anything that doesn't relate to them, so they seem to leave their animal nature behind to become a pure state of being.”
Ephemeral moments captured with poetry, Sammallahti’s images in Me Kaksi are as delicate and precise as haikus. They celebrate intimacy, the fragments of serendipitous encounters, and the evanescence of all things and beings on the earth.
