Jorma Puranen is one of Finland’s best-known photographers and a member of the famous Helsinki School of Photography. His conceptual art photographs touch on art history, social anthropology, language and communication, geography, and Nordic identities in a way that also underlines a curiosity for exploring visual phenomena and picture making. Puranen was a professor at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki from 1996–1998. His work is represented in many private, corporate and public collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London; the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris; Helsinki City Art Museum and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

“In this series [“Curiosus Naturae Spectator”] he integrates Latin phrases and medieval script, printed onto silk sheets, within Nordic landscapes [...] In Speculum Orbis Terrae white lettering on a black sheet is set on white snow, white gray snow water in the middle distance and ominous clouds. The title suggests an explorer's desire to view and investigate the whole of the earth”. Liz Wells: “Poetics and Silence”. In Jorma Puranen: “Icy Prospects”, 2009. P. 25.

Reference: Liz Wells: “Poetics and Silence”. In: Jorma Puranen: “Icy Prospects”, 2009. P. 25.

Provenance: Galleri Dam, Copenhagen.