I consider myself as a socially oriented photographer − my aim and concern is always in things and phenomenon that are relevant to time I am living, in things that concerns people and their living conditions. My work can be considered dialectical; I position myself in time and place I live, but through my work I also want to take part in processes changing and developing that environment. I possess a desire to discuss through my images. I mainly work from the documentaristic approach, understanding documentarism in contemporary way, including poetic and subjective perspective into it.
I started my artistic involvement by making images that focused on deconstructing ideas of masculinity and male identity. I became public with the work that was dealing with visual stereotypical representations of manhood (Dear Men, 1998). In this body of work my view was humorous, combined with a deep social concern. I have also produced another series of work that is looking at men’s bodies (Joy, 1999). I have recently started looking at themes of 'manhood' again, this time concentrating in male skin and hair. This hair-skin-pain -project (2005−) now consists of some 30 images.
Much of my work has looked at practises of violence. Through these more recent bodies of work I interprete traces or other visual marks left behind from violent acts. Photographing such things is my way of getting close to the fact that violence exists in everyday life, even though it may not always be directly evident. Through the process of photographic documentation I explore what lies behind these traces. I understand violence as an entity that exists on many levels. Violence is present and practised even at times everything seems to be 'ok'.
In the series From the Diary of a Dissident (1999) I photographed in Trubetskoi Prison in St. Petersburg, which held prisoners such as Feodor Dostojewski and Maksim Gorki. The images look at 'human rights' and how the freedom to express one’s opinion can be demolished in a dictatorial, one-sighted environment through torture and murder.
In Badscapes (1999−2000) I photographed landscapes that, although beautiful, are at the same time either active fields of weapons development or have a history of war related activities. Some of these places are memorials where tourists are welcomed, others are highly protected and entry is prohibited. In On Violence (1999−2001) I continued the same theme, taking my Hasselblad this time to city centres and homes to get some human interaction into the images.
Prison sheets (1999−2005) continues exploring traces of violence. This time I looked directly at environments. I photographed in several museum prisons that held political prisoners, and made a visual interpretation of these places. I concentrated in rooms and spaces where both well known individuals and ordinary people have faced punishment, cruel interrocation treatment and torturing. Destinies of individuals are preserved in walls and floors I photograph. I traveled with my field camera to museum prisons in St. Petersburg (Russia), Tartu (Estonia), Vilnius (Lithuenia), Berlin (Germany), Hämeenlinna (Finland), Acre and Jerusalem (Israel) and Gjirokaster (Albania).
During my NIFCA-residency in Albania I produced a 24-picture piece that I named Studies on Albanian Identity (2004). In that series I looked at everyday practises where violence is present. I visited homes and photographed in the streets. In Albania I also started to work with the project called Political prisoners (2004−). I photographed individuals who had been imprisoned or deportated during the communist regimé of dictator Enver Hoxha. The project is now completed, after three visits to Albania. I have also produced a series called guns at home (2004−). Within this series I have photographed illegal weapons many Albanians have at their homes. Most of the weapons have their origins at the revolt in 1997, when Albanians went to barricades and rushed into the weapon storages managed by the government robbing them empty. Many of these weapons have never been returned. Since 2004 I have also worked with a series called Bunkers of Albania (2004-). For this project I have been photographing bunkers in all over Albania; there were more than 600 000 of them being built during Enver Hoxha communist regime.
I also work with the large project that I have named About safety (2001−). It is a series of images where I look at the worldwide feeling of threath rising from the events such as the September 11th and the bombings in Spain and the London. So far I have been photographing this series in Nevada Test Site, USA, in London, UK and in Paris, France. The latest concluded project is called Battered (2006−2007). In this series I focused on people who are victims of street and domestic violence, concentrating on the physical marks that an assault leaves on the body. I also photographed street fights as they appear.