The exhibition by Miia Autio centres around the essayistic video piece Letter 1 / AIR, which introduces the artist’s ongoing four-part video series. Complementing the video work are three photographic pieces – Water, Earth, and Fire – that reference the upcoming parts of the series and their interplay. Together, these works create a space where different elements, energies, and meanings flow and merge.

The dialogue heard in the background of the video work is based on an ongoing correspondence between the artist and the Beninese Koffi Robert Djossou, which began in 2021. Through this exchange, the artist seeks to explore a worldview unfamiliar to her – that of Vodun, the world’s largest nature-based religion. As an artist working with the camera, Autio became particularly intrigued by Vodun’s concept of the invisible world. Central questions in the piece include how to use a camera to depict the invisible and, conversely, how to believe in something that cannot be seen. This pursuit of the invisible sparked a personal journey for the artist, during which various messages, dreams, and the whispers of the wind began to almost effortlessly propel the story forward.

The work highlights perspectives related to Vodun’s worldview through words and questions that arise from the meeting of two distinctly different interlocutors. While it is essential to recognise the differences in the backgrounds and positions of the participants, it is equally important to understand that this dialogue would not exist without them. The piece seeks to demonstrate that collaboration between representatives of different cultures can create new meanings when the interaction is open, respectful, and aimed at a shared goal. These meanings are illustrated through video images that, in the words of Koffi Robert Djossou, convey the artist’s experiences within the invisible world.

Miia Autio (b. 1986, Reisjärvi) is a visual artist with a background in documentary photography. Her primary mediums are photography, video, and text. Autio’s works explore the boundary between the visible and the invisible, as well as the impact of images on the construction of different worldviews. Her practice is grounded in visual anthropology. In her more recent works, Autio has personally taken on the role of interlocutor, seeking interaction around the themes of her artworks. Autio studied photography at the Lahti University of Applied Sciences and at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki, in 2022. Since 2016, her works have been featured in several solo and group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad.

 The artist’s work and exhibition have been supported by The Kone Foundation, the Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).

Miia Autio
Letter 1 / AIR
10 January –2 February 2025
Photographic Gallery Hippolyte

image: Miia Autio, Letter 1 / AIR, 2025