Photo North – Northern Photographic Centre hosts two events in April, where we get to hear one of the Nordic countries’ most famous lens-based contemporary artists and a Magnum Photos photojournalist.
Photo North – Northern Photographic Centre is hosting two discussion events in April, both of which will feature a guest speaker from an international lens-based art scene. On Saturday 18th of April, the guest speaker for the Talking Pictures discussion series will be Elina Brotherus, one of the most renowned Nordic photographers and contemporary artists, and on Wednesday 22nd of April, the guest speaker at the F5.6 Club, organised in collaboration with Finnish photojournalists, will be Magnum Photos photographer Salim Basheer.
Lens-based artist Elina Brotherus will bring an extensive Alvar Aalto exhibition to the Oulu2026 programme, which focuses on the architecture and fictional stories of the homes designed by Aalto. ‘Women on Waves – Elina Brotherus and Alvar Aalto’s Homes’ will be on display from 5th to 30th of August at the Aalto Siilo in Toppila. The exhibition is organised in collaboration with the Photo North – Northern Photographic Centre.
Photo North is organizing an open artist meeting at AaltoSiilo on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 at 1:30 PM. At the event, Elina Brotherus and Photo North’s Director Darja Zaitsev will discuss the upcoming exhibition and Brotherus’ artistic work. The event is free of charge. Photo North’s Talking Pictures discussion series invites photo artists, photographers and those interested in photography to discuss photography and photographic art around various themes.
Brotherus’ art has been alternating between autobiographical and art historical approaches. Her early series on subjective experiences gave way to works dealing with the human figure and the landscape, the relation of the artist and the model. In her current practice she is revisiting Fluxus event scores and other written instructions for performance-oriented art of the 1950s-70s. Another recent theme is architecture: Brotherus photographs in private houses designed by important architects, taking roles of various imagined characters. Her tranquil presence breathes life into these iconic spaces of architectural heritage.
Elina Brotherus lives and works in Helsinki, Finland and Avallon, France. She has an MA degree in Photography from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (now Aalto University) and an MSc in Chemistry from the University of Helsinki. She has been awarded, among others, the Artist Professorship Grant of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (2022-2026), Carte blanche PMU, France (2017), the Finnish State Prize for Photography (2008), and the Prix Niépce of Gens d’image (2005). Her works are in over 80 public collections including the Pompidou Centre, Paris, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, LACMA, Los Angeles, and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. https://www.elinabrotherus.com
The F5.6 Club will be held at Snooker Time (Asemakatu 28, 90100 Oulu) starting at 19.00 and will feature Magnum photographer Salih Basheer. Basheer will be interviewed about his works and career by local photojournalist Antti J. Leinonen. The talk is in English. The club is free of charge.
Salih Basheer (born in 1995, in Omdurman, Sudan) is a Sudanese photographer. After finishing high school in Sudan, he moved to Cairo in 2013 and received his Bachelor’s degree in Geography from Cairo University in 2017. During his studies in Egypt, he started as a self-taught photographer, and subsequently studied Photojournalism in Denmark.
In 2021, Basheer received the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund student grant for his personal project, 22 Days in Between. For the same project, Basheer was awarded the Everyday Projects Grant. In January 2023, Basheer published 22 Days in Between, the first-ever photo-book by a Sudanese photographer, and the book was awarded the 2023 Les Rencontres d’Arles Photo-Text Book Award. In 2024, he joined Magnum Photos as a nominee.
Talking Pictures: Elina Brotherus
AaltoSiilo, Alvar Aallon katu 5, Meri-Toppila, Oulu
Saturday 18.4.2026 from 13.30 to 14.30
F5.6 Club
Snooker Time, Asemakatu 28, 90100 Oulu
Wednesday 22.4.2026 at 19.00
