Pentti Sammallahti
Side Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
18.2.2012 - 14.4.2012
«Born in Helsinki, Finland in 1950, Pentti Sammallahti began taking photographs when he 11 years old. By the age of 21 he had begun to exhibit extensively in Finland and throughout the world. He has travelled widely as a photographer, producing major bodies of work from Russia, Turkey, Nepal, Japan, Ireland and the UK as well as from his home country.
Sammallahti’s photographs take the viewer beyond everyday experience into a wistfully enchanting world. Regardless of where on the globe he makes photographs, there is a gentle humour in his gaze. In Sammallahti’s universe things that are considered unimportant become significant, while the essentials are discovered through acutely experiencing the world. Dogs stretching and doves dozing, the rhythms of a Roma market, or children in clothes that are too big for them - all well-aimed shots in the hunt for decisive moments. Sammallahti represents an alternative to the frenetic rhythms of contemporary life and to the adulation of rapid change.
As a passionate seeker of the perfect mechanical printing method, his own innovative printing techniques and reintroduction of the portfolio form have re-awakened broader interest in published photographic art. Influenced by the idea of ‘artist books’ – individual works in which the artist is responsible for the whole: photography, the making of prints, layout, design and typography, reproduction and often the actual printing process either with the offset or the gravure method.
Sammallahti taught at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki for 17 Years, retiring when he received a 20-year grant (1991-2011) from the Finnish government, an unusually long endowment, which is no longer awarded. Sammallahti was honored to be included among the 100 favorite photographs in the personal collection of Henri Cartier-Bresson, which was the inaugural exhibition for the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson in 2003. His work has been exhibited world wide, and was given an extensive festival in Arles, France. As a teacher, he has an enormous influence on a whole generation of documentary photographers in Finland».
© All copyright Pentti Sammallahti