2022
The exhibition “Loose Photos, Odds and Ends” at Kumu Museum of Art in 2022 was an artistic experiment: presenting a research process as an installation.
In 2013, I ordered 105 old photographs from an American dealer through his online shop. It was a random purchase for me; he had assembled the photos as one lot, claiming they were all from Estonia in the 1920s–1940s. In his email, he described them as “loose photos, odds and ends,” adding, “I am so glad these photos are ‘going home,’ so to speak.”
Eight years later, I decided to create an exhibition from these photographs as a commissioned work for Kumu Museum. It was displayed as an intervention in the historical permanent exhibition “Landscapes of Identity: Estonian Art 1700–1945.”
My exhibition presented all 105 photographs in seven glass vitrines. On the walls around the vitrines, I displayed various historical information and additional visuals I discovered during my research on these photographs: the people depicted, the photographers, and the locations where they were taken.
The gradual identification of what could be found and what I decided was important to include revealed new perspectives on Estonian micro-histories. It offered alternative narratives of historically significant events through portraits and stories of ordinary, unknown people who looked back at us from these photographs.
The exhibition traveled to Võrumaa Museum and the Estonian National Archive in 2023.
In December 2024, the Estonian National Archives (Rahvusarhiiv) agreed to accept all these photographs into its national collection as a single historical collection. It has now become part of the national heritage, accessible to everyone for private or academic research.
The exhibition also included an interactive element: visitors could use the provided yellow papers and pencils to leave their comments on the walls. They were encouraged to share if they recognized anyone in the photographs or knew more about the places and photographers. After six months, the walls were covered with visitors’ notes and drawings.
I preserved all these yellow notes, and on the specially created Instagram account @loose.photos.odds.and.ends, I share them all. The responses unexpectedly created a new archive of stories left by visitors, and I am deeply grateful to everyone who contributed.
The exhibition team:
Exhibition design: LLRRLLRR – Laura Linsi, Karolin Kull
Graphic designer: Maria Muuk
Exhibition coordinator: Magdaleena Maasik
Exhibition technician: Andres Amos
Artist’s research assistant: Ketlin Käpp
With contribution in kind by Linda Kaljundi, Annika Toots and Karmen-Eliise Kiidron
Special thanks to Liisa Kaljula, Merilis Roosalu (Tallinn City Museum – Museum of Photography), Aado Luik, Janeli Suits, Piret Karro, Lembi Anepaio, Aljona Kapajeva and the Sokk family, Võrumaa museum team and Estonian National Archive in Tartu team.