Image Ark invites you to the exhibition

Solitudes
Photographic Reflections

by Päivi Maria Wells


Carroll Dunham has kindly agreed to inaugurate the exhibition

Tuesday 20 May at 5:30 pm

Image Ark, Kulimha, Patan Durbar Square


STATEMENT
Photography is my creative outlet and my main source of healing. It is a natural extension from my experience with other creative media such as etching and drawing, materials such as wood and clay.
Photography for me is not about documenting. It is about my inner experience. It is a discovery in curious exploration, time spent in solitude and reflection. I am most creative in such quietness in which even thoughts are nothing but a distant hum. The mind becomes empty and open, the sense of self dissolves and one becomes fully focused. I aim to photograph so that it has a meaning for me, to do this I need to spend a fair amount of time in nature, out of touch and away from the minds of others, rules and expectations.
The pictures in this collection are results from this process. The harsh windy seashore of my childhood north, the forest where I go to find myself again and again, the nature in all its forms, is my source of inspiration. This is an ongoing process; it continues to change and to evolve.
The pictures are made by using hand held camera motion and/ or filters to allow me long exposure times. This technique allows me to etch the light and the texture on camera censor so that it best describes this inner dialogue. The images are printed on highest quality Hahnemühle fine art photography paper.


The aim of art is to represent, not the outward appearance of things but the inward significance. – Aristotle.


ABOUT THE ARTIST: Päivi Maria Wells is an artist and an artisan from Finland. She graduated from the West Finland Institute for Art, Craft and Design in 1995 and further deepened her studies in visual arts and art therapy. She continues to study techniques and break boundaries in order to allow a free expression of the visual world. The seashore and the forest were her childhood playgrounds and remain so as an important source for both solace and inspiration. She returns to these environments in the upcoming exhibition.


Carroll Dunham is a Princeton University anthropologist, writer, documentary film maker, expedition leader and founder of Wild Earth Nepal. Carroll has lived and worked in Nepal for the past 25 years. She currently leads pilgrimages and medical expeditions in remote parts of Nepal and Mongolia. Married to award-winning photographer Thomas L. Kelly, she has spent an inordinate amount of her life critiquing photographs in addition to finding solace in wild spaces. Carroll's current work focuses on the interplay of visible and invisible worlds, the language and expression of spirit in mental health and healing.

www.paivimariawells.com
www.image-ark.com
(Tel: 50 06 665)