Ilkka Halso: Layered Landscapes

Ilkka Halso’s (b. 1965, Orimattila, Finland) exhibition examines the anatomy of landscape. Combining photographs and moving image, the body of work is part of Halso’s long-term artistic endeavour. He illuminates dark landscapes from above using a flash platform he constructed from a drone. Halso employs remote-controlled lighting akin to a brush, revealing details in the landscapes as if painting them. 

Halso directs attention to the layers of landscapes, deconstructing them and then reconstructing them from numerous point-like shots. His approach resembles a dissection, analysing landscapes by dividing them into parts. Appropriating this medical term, he verbalises the problematic processes of trying to freeze a landscape into an image through the acts of gazing, cropping, and photographing. Halso’s works reveal how landscapes transform according to how they are perceived, shaped by our relationship with nature and cultural connotations.