Sanna Kannisto

Born in Hämeenlinna, Finland in 1974. Lives and works in Helsinki.
E-mail: sanna(a)sannakannisto.com | www.sannakannisto.com

Studies

1998–2002 MA, University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Dept. of Photography
1994–1997 Turku school of Art and Communication, Dept. of Photography

Selected solo exhibitions

2024

Resting site, VB-Photographic Center, Kuopio, Finland

2023

Observing Eye, Pyramide of Pantin, Hermès International, Internal exhibition, Paris

2022

Sense of Wonder, Maison Louis Carré, Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, France
Reseach on wonder, Galerie La Ferronnerie, Paris

2020

Sense of Wonder, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland

2019

Observing eye, Helsinki Contemporary, Helsinki, Finland
Trabajo de Campo, Centro de la Imagen, Lima, Peru

2018

Wanderer, Observer and Conveyor, part of EMOP photofestival, Gallery Taik Persons, Berlin, Germany
A Song System, Metronom gallery, Modena, Italy

2017

White Space, NonostanteMarras, part of PhotoVogue Festival, Milan, Italy

2015

Helsinki Contemporary, Helsinki, Finland
Galerie La Ferronnerie, Paris, France

2012

Fieldwork, Le Château d’Eau, Toulouse, France
Gallery Taik Persons, Berlin, Germany
Gallery Metronom, Modena, Italy

2011

Fieldwork, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, SKMU, Kristiansand, Norway
Fieldwork, Aperture Gallery, New York, USA
Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary, Helsinki, Finland

2008

Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Contemporary Art Centre, Bignan, France
Le centre photographique d’Ile-de-France CPIF, France
Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Korjaamo Culture Factory, Gallery 1 & 2, Helsinki, Finland

2007

Galerie Georg Kargl, Vienna, Austria

2006

Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, USA
Yours Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Berlin, Germany
Gallery F-Station, Photomonth in Krakow, Poland

Selected group exhibitions

2024

Mondes en comun Festival, Musée Albert-Kahn, Paris, France (1.6–22.9.2024)
Who Is an Animal? HAM Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland (17.5.-18.8. 2024)
Taidevaltakunta biennale Hämeenlinna Art Museum (14.6.–8.9.2024)
Feel the Space of the Forest, KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad, Silkeborg, Denmark (5.10.2024–12.1.2025)

2023

Shared space exhibition in HAM/ Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Bestiaires, Centre Jacques Brel & Puzzle, Thionville, France
Snowflakes and Other Surprises, Photo North gallery, Oulu, Finland
Balance, Art Center Purnu, Orivesi, Finland
Enchanteurs, Galerie La Ferronnerie, Paris
Animalia, Forays from Los Angeles to Mumbai, Kunshalle Darmstadt, Germany

2022

Snowflakes and Other Surprises, Landskrona Foto, Sweden
Festival photo of La Baden – Gacilly 2022, Baden, Austria
Snowflakes and Other Surprises, Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen, Denmark

2021

Plein Nord, Festival photo de La Gacilly, France
New Perspectives Through Photography – 25 Years of Helsinki School, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Finland
Model Animal, Kunsthaus Göttingen, Germany
Langt ud i skoven, Skovhuset Kunst & Natur (close to Copenhagen), Værløse, Denmark
Whose Nature? Jyväskylä Art Museum, Finland
Whose Nature? Northern Photographic Centre, Oulu, Finland
Whose Nature? Photographic Centre Peri, Turku, Finland

2020

Illusionary observations, Museum für Photographie Braunschweig, Germany
A Fresh Breeze from the North! Lübeck Kunsthalle, Germany
The Helsinki School – The Nature of Being, Persons Projects, Berlin, Germany
Life Under Threat, Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Working on it, Helsinki Contemporary, Helsinki, Finland

2019

Finnish Aalto, Busan Museum of Art, South Korea
Datong International Festival of Photography, Datong, China
Unfolded matters, Nature as Culture, Culture as Nature, Galerie Georg Kargl, Vienna, Austria

2018

Considering Finland, Kunstverein Ludwigshafen and Port25 Raum für Gegenwartskunst, Mannheim, Germany, 10th of November–13th of January 2019
Nature as a Playground, The Museum of Photography Seoul, South Korea,
9th of June – 18th of August 2018
Endangered Species: Artists on the Front Line of Biodiversity, Whatcom Museum, Washington State, Bellingham, USA, 8th of September 2018 – 6th of January 2019

2017

The Von Wright Brothers, Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Systema Naturae, Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
Herbarium, Fotografiskcenter Copenhagen, Denmark
Kuusi, Lachenmann Art, Konstanz, Germany
Human/Nature, Northern Photographic Centre, Oulu, Finland
You want Truth or Beauty, Kunsthalle Nexus, Saalfelden, Germany
Antologia, Metronom gallery, Modena, Italy
Lehmä pitää viedä jäälle, jotta se tanssii, Samuelis Baumgarte and the Ratskeller, Bielefeld, Germany

2016

Paradise Lost, Kunsthalle and Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot, Germany
Kolga Tbilisi Photo 2016, Museum Of Modern Art Tbilisi/ MOMATbilisi, Georgia
Longing for Landscape – Landscape Photography, Tieranatomisches Theater, Berlin, Germany
Les Explorateurs, Parc de Clères, Clères, France

2015

Fotografia Contemporanea dall’Europa nord-occidentale, Fondazione Fotografia Modena, Italy (catalogue)

2014

Collective Collection, volet 2, BBB centre d’art, Toulouse
Summer Selections – De Buck Gallery, New York City, New York
What´s Life Anyway?, Tromso Kunstforening, Tromsø, Norway
Nordic Light International Festival of Photography, Kristiansund, Norway

2013

ARTE Vidéo Night 5/ screening, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Vermessene Dinge/ Measured things, Eres Stiftung, Munich, Germany
Reality Bites, (2 Nov. 2012 – 14 April 2013) Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (catalogue)
Spécimens, Domaine de Chamarande, Chamarande, France
The Near and the Distant – Photography and Space, Künstlerhaus Dortmund, Germany
Photography into Art. The Hannula & Hinkka Collection, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki

2012

State of the Art – New Contemporary Photography, NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, Germany (catalogue)
International Photo Festival Knokke-Heist, Belgium
Hunters and Hunted, Insects in contemporary art, Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden – Rot, Germany (catalogue)
Sammen/Together, Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway
Äärimmäisyyksien yhteinen tekijä, WAM, Turku, Finland (catalogue)
Finders Keepers, Mänttä Art Festival, Mänttä, Finland (catalogue)
Regards photographiques finlandais sur la nature, Jumieges, Abbaye se Jumieges, France

2011

A Female View. Part 2-aus der Helsinki School, Foto Raum, Wien, Austria
Für Hund und Katz ist auch noch Platz, Art Foyer DZ Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Beautiful Vagabonds, Yancey Richarson Gallery, USA
Prague Biennale, The romantic construct, Czech Republic (catalogue)
8th Mercosul Biennial, Essays on Geopoetics, Porto Alegre, Brazil (catalogue)

2010

Strange Travelers, Tanya Bonakdar gallery, curated by Mark Dion, New York, USA
elles@centrepompidou, women artists in the collections of the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (catalogue)
Wald, Städtische Galerie Waldkraiburg, Waldkraiburg, Germany (catalogue)
Repeat All, Centro Cultural Chacao, Caracas, Venezuela
Speed, Ulrich Museum of Art, Kansas, USA

2009

The Tree, Fuglsang Art Museum, Island of Lolland, Denmark
FotoRio –Short List/The Dream Machine, Niterói Museum of contemporary art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Repeat All, MIS – Museu da Imagem e do Som, São Paulo, Brazil (catalogue)
Arctic hysteria Onscreen, Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary
Får ej övertäckas, Eskilstuna Art Museum, Sweden (catalogue)
Nature en Kit, MUDAC Musée de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains, Lausanne, Switzerland
Struggle for life, Eres Stiftung, München, Germany

2008

Other florae, Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil
Video short list : Machines à rêver/ Dream machine, Passage de Retz, Paris, France (catalogue)
REAL, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (catalogue)
Observing beast, time, evolution, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Germany (catalogue)
Arctic hysteria Onscreen, Museum of Modern Art Moma, New York, USA
Cinéma et videos d’artistes, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
Five variations on the finiteness of human vision, Artget Gallery, Cultural Centre of Belgrade, Serbia

2007

Research and Invention, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (catalogue)
Bird Watching in Harlem, De Vishal exposition space, Haarlem, Netherlands
Garden Eden –The Garden in Art since 1900, Kunsthalle Emden, Germany (catalogue)
Self-timer, National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), Bucharest, Romania
Age of the Animal, Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland (catalogue)
Grey matters – photography is thinking, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki (catalogue)
Repeat All, Centro Cultural Matucana 100, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Photo Finnish – The Helsinki School, Stenersen Art Museum, Norway
Repeat All, House of Culture, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2006

Self-timer, Nikolaj Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
Art, Life & Confusion, the Belgrade Biennial, Serbia (catalogue)
Streams of Story, Glasgow Festival of Contemporary Visual Art, Tramway Gallery, Great Britain
The Faraway Nearby, White Box, New York, USA
Self-timer/ Selbstauslöser, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (catalogue)
Presence, Wäinö Aaltonen Art Museum, Turku, Finland
Vad är fotografi? The Helsinki School, Borås Art Museum, Sweden

Works in collections

Centre Pompidou – Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris, France
Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
MEP, Maison européenne de la photographie, France
Kiasma – Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
Finnish Museum of Photography, Finland
Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland
Le Fonds national d’art contemporain (FNAC), The State Art Collection, France
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain, FRAC Haute-Normandie, France
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain, FRAC Bretagne, France
DZ-Bank Art Collection, Germany
Statoil Art Collection, Norway
Fondazione Fotografica, Modena, Italy
State Art Collection, Finland
Vihuri Foundation, Rovaniemi Art Museum, Finland
Salo Art Museum, Finland
Kuopio Art Museum, Finland
SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Norway
Le Château d’Eau, Toulouse, France
Domaine Départemental de Chamarande, Chamarande, France, France
Artothèque, Bibliothèque d’Auxerre, France
Société Yves Rocher, France
Private collections Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, USA, Austria and Switzerland

Selected publications

The Flower in Contemporary Photography, Thames and Hudson, 2022
BIRD by Hoxton Mini Press, London, UK, 2022
Observing Eye, monograph, Hatje Cantz, 2020
White Space, Metronom books, 2017
22 Ways, On Artistic Thinking in Finnish Contemporary Art, Parvs Publishing, Helsinki, 2014
The Helsinki School, From the Past to the Future, Vol 5, Hatje Cantz, 2014
State of The Art Photography, Feymedia and NRW-Forum Duesseldorf, Germany 2012
Fieldwork, monograph, Aperture Foundation, New York, 2011
The Helsinki School, Vol. 4, A Female View, Hatje Cantz, Germany 2011
Northwawe, Overview of video art in the Nordic Countries, Guerini, Milan 2009
Photo Art: The New World of Photography, Thames and Hudson, 2008
Photo Art: Photography in the 21st Century, Aperture, 2008
REAL, From the collecton of DZ-BanK, Städel Museum and Hatje Cantz, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Research and Invention, catalogue, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland 2007
Photo Art: Fotografie im 21. Jahrhundert, DuMont Literatur und Kunst Verlag, Germany 2007
Garden Eden, DuMont Literatur und Kunst Verlag, Germany 2007
The Helsinki School, Hatje Cantz, Germany 2007
Selbstauslöser –catalogue, Kunsthalle Fridericianum 2005
Helsinki Photography Festival 2005, catalogue, Gallery Hippolyte, 2005
The Helsinki School, Hatje Cantz, Germany 2005

Selected articles

Essay Bird’s Eye Perspectives, Barbara Hofmann-Johnson, Observing Eye book, Hatje Cantz, 2020
Observing Eye, Text by Sophie Wright, Lensculture.com, 2019
A Conversation between Sanna Kannisto and Chiara Bardelli Nonino, White Space, Metronom books, 2017
“Sanna Kannisto: The gaze of a bird”, Susanna Pettersson, The Brothers von Wright. Art, Science and Life,
Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum, 2017
“Science and beauty collide…”, Feature Shoot magazine May 27, 2016 by Elizabeth Sulis Gear
“Through an Artist’s Lens, Field Biology Takes the Stage”, National Geographic Proof, March 21st 2016, by Sarah Stacke
Unseen Amsterdam magazine 2016, by Celia Graham-Dixon
22 Ways – essay, Maria Hirvi-Ijäs, Parvs Publishing, 2014
Immense Disorder – essay, Steve Baker, Fieldwork-monograph, Aperture 2011
Sanna Kannisto Fieldwork, -review, The Brooklyn Rail, by Alexis Clements, 2011
Flight of Fancy: Sanna Kannisto’s Field Work, Time Lightbox, Time Photo Department, April 26th, 2011
“Theatre of Nature”, Foam Magazine Issue #19 Wonder, Theatre of Nature by Harri Laakso, Oct 5, 2009
Photo Art –The New World of Photography, text by Barbara Hofmann-Johnson, Thames & Hudson, 2008
Research and Invention catalogue, text by Thomas Seelig, Fotomuseum Winterthur 2007
A conversation with Sanna Kannisto, Birgit Eusterschulte, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 2005
The Silence of Species, Framework Magazine, The finnish art review, issue 4/ Dec. 2005, by Harri Laakso

Selected grants and awards

2022-2023 Finnish Cultural Foundation
2020 Finnish Cultural Foundation
2019 Finnish Cultural Foundation
2017 Finnish Art Society, William Thuring Prize
2016 Arts Council of Finland, 5-year working grant
2015 State Prize for Photographic Art
2015 Nomination for the Finnish Fine Arts’ Academy Prize
2012 Finnish Cultural Foundation Prize

Public Artworks

2023 Commissioned Art work to Nuotti day-care centre, HAM Helsinki Art Museum, Finland
2022 Södersjukhuset, Stockholm Sweden
2020 Hospital Nova in Central Finland, Jyväskylä, Finland
2018 Hyvinkää Hospital, Finland
2015 Linköping University Hospital, Sweden
2013 Stockholms Sjukhem, Stockholm Sweden
2005 Laurin koulu, Upper Secondary School, Salo, Finland (The percent for Art Principle)