New photo and video exhibition about Ingrian history opens in Tallinn
On Tuesday, December 11, a new photography and video exhibition opened at the Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Center in Tallinn. "The Ingrians – Hidden Stories," examines the history of the Ingrian people and the repression that has led to them being scattered from their settlements in the region around St. Petersburg and made them appear invisible.
The exhibition is predominantly based on the journey of two Ingrian journalists – father and daughter Lea and Santer Pakkanen – to trace their roots. They were accompanied on their journey by Finnish photographer Meeri Koutaniemi, whose work usually focuses on human rights issues. Together, they travelled to the sites of former prison camps and deportation points in Ingria and Russia.
The material in this exhibition was also the basis for an exhibition held at the National Museum of Finland in Helsinki in 2020. The exhibition at the Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Center draws on some of the same material but also includes several previously unpublished works. Video interviews with Ingrian Finns living in Estonia have been created especially for the exhibition.
Due to their ethnicity, Ingrians (also known as Ingrian Finns) were labeled as "harmful elements" in the Soviet Union and learned to hide their native language and roots to such an extent that even children were no longer taught their mother tongue. Fear of arrest, deportation and execution, as well as the concealment of their identity, is a central part of the history of the Ingrian people.
In 2021, the exhibition was scheduled to open in Russia at the ROSPHOTO Museum in St. Petersburg. However, a month before the opening, after the works had already been delivered to the museum, the exhibition was cancelled. The Russian organizers claimed they had only become familiar with the exhibition materials at the last minute, while the Russian media claimed the cancellation was due to the "distortion of historical facts."
"The feeling of belonging to a group that people have tried to destroy is quite horrendous," said 22-year-old Sonja Nüganen in an interview for the exhibition. "But here I am. We've lived through it – it's just like showing a middle finger to Stalin."
The exhibition's curators are Kristel Aimeé Laur and Toomas Järvet, the authors of the videos made with Estonian Ingrians are Hannele Valkeeniemi and Antti Häkli, and the consultant for the Estonian-language exhibition material is Taisto Raudalainen.
---
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
