Ville Lenkkeri

Serlachius Manor

20.09.2014

—04.01.2015

Tehtaan katolla oleva työvaatteisiin pukeutunut talonmies harja kädessä piipun vieressä katsomassa alla olevaan kaupunkiin

Ville Lenkkeri’s photographs from Mänttä

Photographic artist Ville Lenkkeri photographed Mänttä as he sees his hometown. 

Lenkkeri, who grew up and went to school in Mänttä, has photographed his hometown every time he has returned there over the past five years. Returning to his hometown is a return to childhood landscapes and memories. Through the eyes of the photographer, the town still looks very much the same as it did in childhood. Still, it will never be the same. “It will probably take 20 years for things to start looking interesting in a new light,” he says.

Lenkkeri’s photographs combine mental images and reality. His hometown evokes conflicting feelings in him. He knows that the town is pulsating with vitality and striving for change. Still, in his pictures, time stands still and the smoke stack of the factory represents immutability. “My impressions of stagnation are like something else. I think I remember wrong.

Lenkkeri admits that there is often something wrong with his photos: something ends, his mind is gloomy, or the paint on the wall deteriorates. “I see that general tone as the best match for the conflicting emotions I feel towards Mänttä,” he admits, but he looks at imperfection tenderly and sees it as a hopeful beginning of something new.