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For the last 15 years, Iiu Susiraja (b. 1975, Turku, Finland) has taken photographs of herself in domestic settings, most often in her home in Turku, Finland. MoMA PS1 presents the first solo museum exhibition of Susiraja’s work in the US, bringing together a focused selection of photographs and videos that highlight the trajectory of her practice since 2007. Simultaneously seductive, abject, stylized, and vulnerable, Susiraja’s works are grounded in unabashed, yet private, performances for the camera. In these stagings, household objects—tablecloths, umbrellas, hotdogs, bananas, treadmills, rubber duckies, and dead fish, to name a few such items—become co-conspirators in her confrontations with the lens. Susiraja’s bodily manipulations torque the symbolisms of these objects, crafting incongruous and bold-faced tableaux. Situated between the slapstick and the deadpan, Susiraja’s works locate uneasiness in the comfortable, and vice versa.
Iiu Susiraja lives and works in Turku, Finland. She earned an MFA from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2018 and has held solo exhibitions at venues including: Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma/Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland; SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway; Makasiini Contemporary, Turku, Finland; Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles; Ramiken, New York; and Francois Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the University of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma/Finnish National Gallery, Rubell Family Collection, Gothenburg Museum of Art, and the Finnish Museum of Photography.
Iiu Susiraja is organized by Jody Graf, Assistant Curator, MoMA PS1.
Generous support for Iiu Susiraja: A style called a dead fish is provided by Frame Contemporary Art Finland.
Special thanks to the Consulate General of Finland in New York and the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York.
Press Kit
Images
Iiu Susiraja. Large-scale cleaning. 2008. Chromogenic print. 15 3/4 x 11 3/4″ (40 x 29.8 cm). Courtesy the artist, Makasiini Contemporary, and Nino Mier Gallery.
Iiu Susiraja. Lucia. 2010. Chromogenic print. 16 × 15 3/4″ (40.6 × 40 cm). Courtesy the artist, Makasiini Contemporary, and Nino Mier Gallery.
Iiu Susiraja. Happy meal. 2011. Chromogenic print. 15 3/4 x 10 1/2″ (40 x 26.7 cm). Courtesy the artist, Makasiini Contemporary, and Nino Mier Gallery.
Iiu Susiraja. Functional communication. 2012. Chromogenic print. 20 x 30″ (50.8 x 76.2 cm). Courtesy the artist, Makasiini Contemporary, and Nino Mier Gallery.
Iiu Susiraja. Handshake. 2017. Chromogenic print. 13 11/16 x 10 7/16″ (34.7 x 26.5 cm) (framed). Courtesy the artist, Makasiini Contemporary, and Nino Mier Gallery.
Iiu Susiraja. Pinwheel. 2019. Chromogenic print in artist’s frame. 15 7/8 x 21 1/2″ (40.3 x 54.6 cm) (framed). Courtesy the artist, Makasiini Contemporary, and Nino Mier Gallery.
Iiu Susiraja. Sausage cupid. 2019. Chromogenic print. 30 ½ x 30 ½” (77.5 x 77.5 cm) (framed). Courtesy the artist, Makasiini Contemporary, and Nino Mier Gallery.
Iiu Susiraja. Fountain. 2021. Chromogenic print. 38 x 26 in. (96.52 x 66 cm). Courtesy the artist, Makasiini Contemporary, and Nino Mier Gallery.
Iiu Susiraja. Happy Valentines Day (Big Heart). 2022. Chromogenic print. 13 x 20″ (33 x 50.8 cm). Courtesy the artist, Makasiini Contemporary, and Nino Mier Gallery.