Painted Desert
Nanna Hänninen, who has played a pivotal role within the Helsinki School since the late 1990’s, was one of the first Finnish female artists to work conceptually, utilizing the photographic process to realize large abstract images. Her earlier works from 2000-2004 facilitated the development of photography as a conceptual language in the same tones as Wolfgang Tillmans.
In her Painted Desert series, the photographs oscillate between the depiction of reality and illusion. Rather than being straightforward representations of the landscape, they are reflections on pictorial reality. Working within a reduced range of colour tones and basic geometric forms and lines, Nanna Hänninen alters her initial subjects in order to create a personal response to a common reality. Her selected landscapes shown to have an assortment of paint pulled across the page serves as a reminder to her audience how fragile these endangered environments are with the encroachment of human presence. Persons Projects © 2024

Installation view of Vanishing View , Persons Projects, Berlin, 2024

Installation view of Vanishing View , Persons Projects, Berlin, 2024

Installation view of Vanishing View , Persons Projects, Berlin, 2024

Mesa in Blue (Monument Valley), 2024

Flower Fall in Joshua Treee National Park Tripych, 2024

Faded Buttes #1 (Monument Valley) 2024

Flower Fall in Death Valley Diptych, 2024

Faded Buttes #2 (Monument Valley), 2024

In Beauty We Walk #1 (Joshua Tree National Park), 2024

Mesa in Blue #2, 2024

Pink Morning Walk (Joshua Tree National Park), 2024

Faded Blue Tree (Joshua Tree National Park), 2024

Walk by the Pine Trees, 2024

Ghosts on the road to Death Valley, 2023

Road from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon, 2023, 38 x 57 cm

Colors of the Past in Joshua Tree National Park#3 2023

Colors of the Past in Joshua Tree National Park #1, 2023

Sunrise in Color #1 (Joshua Tree National Park) 2024

Morning Sun in Color #1 (Joshua Tree National Park) 2024

Joshua Tree with Imaginary Pink Fruits #2, 2024

Faded Colors #1 (Joshua Tree National Park), 2024

Joshua Tree in Faded Yellow, 2024

Joshua Tree in Pink # 3, 2024

Painted Creosote # 1 (Joshua Tree National Park) 2024

Creosote in Orange #2 (Joshua Tree National Park)

Creosote in Yellow #2 (Joshua Tree National Park) 2024

Faded Buttes #4 (Monument Valley), 2024

Creosote in Color #1 (Joshua Tree National Park), 2024

Sunrise at the Morning Walk (Joshua Tree National Park), 2024
Installation view of Painted Desert, Paris Photo 2023 with Persons Projects

Installation view of Vanishing View , Persons Projects, Berlin, 2024

Installation view of Vanishing View , Persons Projects, Berlin, 2024