Vilma Leino

Vilma Leino is a performance-based conceptual photographer who has exhibited across Europe including Finland, Germany, France, Greece, Denmark, Czechia, Italy, and Poland. Recent solo exhibitions include Pragovka Gallery in Prague, Kalleria in Helsinki, Scope BLM in Berlin, Red Door Gallery in Copenhagen, and Lyon Particule in France. She has been recognized and shortlisted for various awards including by the Human Impacts Institute, MyMa Artist Grant, Jalón Ángel International Photography Prize, and the BBA Photography Prize.

The photographic works of Vilma Leino entail consistent self-portraiture, often in the guise of multiple characters amidst handmade props and sets. Often, two or more photographs will be combined digitally in order to create the effect of a theatrical scene containing multiple instances of the same character. This distortion of reality conveys a sense of instability, especially with the induction of lucidly neon-colored sets and dream-like sequences. Some of the photographs can come as morbid and macabre, such as depictions of what seems to be the actor lying forwardly down on a washing machine as if to signify death or murder and balloon props painted to appear similar to exposed internal organs. Other photos come off as more playful, such as Vilma in a tiara amidst a colorful kitchen complete with a line of potatoes. But even these sort of works are not quite right as she seems to stare off into the distance like a serious authoritative figure. 

With immense theatrics, Vilma Leino constructs a fantastical yet cynical realm attached to some semblance of reality but also far removed from materiality. In this nihilistic world, she embodies characters which reflect psychological distance and solitude. These ironic performative scenes may be neon-colored, pastel-painted, and toy-like in configurative prop and set design, but there is a consistent sense of horror in the performances often hinting at death or social instability. For example, Vilma will sometimes pose as if she represents a recently deceased character or an appearance of cartoonish illness with her face and body painted in putrid colors. No two photographs are alike and each conveys a different mood or various levels of consistency conveying emotional impulses and sensory experiences. Whimsical, playful, enchanting, these devices and self-portrait actors are a commentary on the sly and venerish characteristics of reality. Behind every smile or expected expression, there remains an underlying darkness or evolved narrative, and the performative photography of Vilma Leino accentuates these observations of distance and social decay. 

Blueberry Fields (pictured above) is a series of self-portraits which are quite contrasting to the rest of her portfolio as they use mountainous landscapes instead of interiors for performative actions. Unlike the interior photos, the actors (Vilma repeated) appear to be wearing blue fidora hats, but upon closer inspection, we will find these are in fact ‘blueberry helmets’, complete with blue costumes. The deep cynicism of portraying actors as inanimate fruits, with their heads bowed down, lying in paralysis, or posturing like zombies further reflects her themes of personal and social decline and distance. 

A deeply complex artist, Vilma Leino uses experimental performance and lucidly colored props and set design to create intricate fantastical worlds which are not as cute and wholesome as they may initially appear. Underneath the surface we will find a deep nihilistic despair along with horror and the macabre of dealing with environmental instability. These cheery, decorative scenes contrast with the disturbing performances, which lead to a conclusion of a disconnect between the individual and our settings, be they interior or landscape. Vilma Leino is a thoroughly psychological and sociological artist who contemplates on the nihilistic tendencies of contemporary identity and civilization. Her cynical yet appealing constructed realms reveal a dichotomy between pleasure and lucid dream-like sequences which invoke chaotic disturbance.

https://www.vilmaleino.com