Gallery: Pärnu hosts Estonian-Finnish photo show 'If Clothes Could Talk…'
Clothing is celebrated as a vessel for memory in a new Estonian-Finnish photo exhibition that opened at the Pärnu Museum of New Art (MONA) this weekend.
Curated by Linda Aura and featuring photography by Arttu Karvonen, "If Clothes Could Talk..." brings together stories from people in both countries told through meaningful garments and accessories.
The project combines photography, sound and text, using clothing as a way to surface personal histories and spark dialogue between generations and cultures. Organizers say such clothing items — from wedding dresses to hand-knit wool sweaters — can hold a lifetime's worth of memories.
Alli-Liis Vandel, the author of the show's concept, shared that in the time her idea took shape, several people had died whose stories she would have wanted to tell.
"These days I'm wearing sweaters that belonged to my mother and father that they wore when they were my age," she said, adding that part of them is woven into the yarn of those sweaters, which is now intertwining with her own in turn.
"I love and cherish these items all the more for it," Vandel said. "And to me, they are much more than just pieces of clothing."
"If Clothes Could Talk..." will remain open at MONA through May 17.
From Pärnu, the show will move to Oulu as part of its European Capital of Culture program before continuing to Canada next year.
--
Editor: Annika Remmel, Aili Vahtla
