It Came From The North: A photography exhibition honoring the beauty of Nordic nature.

ISA Art Advisory is proud to present It Came from the North, a collection of photographs portraying the natural beauty of the Nordic countries. The month-long exhibition will take place at the lobby of WTC 2 Sudirman building in Jakarta, opening on 19 February and closing on March 22. A reception will be held on the opening day, preceded by a press preview. The exhibition is presented by PT Jakarta Land and curated by ISA Art Advisory, a member of Indonesian Luxury, who also support this exhibition.

It Came from the North honors the beauty of Nordic nature through photography in traditional landscape imagery and abstract forms. It offers an insight into the unique relationship the Nordic people have with nature, demonstrating why it has such a special place in society and explaining how it has been incorporated into daily life, at individual and communal level. The founder of ISA Art Advisory, Ms Deborah C. Iskandar, says, “We invite you to come and immerse yourself in the beauty of Nordic nature through photography, while learning the values that come with it. With this exhibition, we bring art to a public space to encourage more people to appreciate art.’’

The exhibition reveals the works of nine Nordic artists: Tine Poppe and Stig Marlon Weston (Norway), Nanna Hänninen and Sandra Kantanen (Finland), Mads Peter Iversen and Astrid Kruse Jensen (Denmark), Stefan Isaksson (Sweden) and artist couple Inka and Niclas Lindergård (Finland and Sweden respectively). In addition, two Indonesian photographers, Vicky Tanzil and Alexander Thian, will present their vision of the North. Some of these artists are known solely as landscape photographers, while others have a more multi-thematic and versatile approach to their artistic practice. What they all have in common is an appreciation and love of nature. 

It Came from the North reminds us of the value of nature, also in relation to our collective identity. Whether we are from the Northern or Southern hemisphere, preserving and protecting the environment is one of the world’s most pressing concerns. Nordic countries are leaders in green growth and have succeeded in running their timber industry through sustainable forest management practices, therefore they have the potential to teach others.

The Nordic embassies in Jakarta are supporting the exhibition. Ambassadors H.E. Rasmus A. Kristensen (Denmark), H.E. Jari Sinkari (Finland), H.E Vegard Kaale (Norway) and H.E. Marina Berg (Sweden) will be present at the reception as guest of honors. The fully support is also given by IndonesianLuxury as the platform complete solution for art and design.

About the artists:

Nordic artists:

Nanna Hänninen (Finland)

Nanna Hänninen is one of the most successful Finnish fine art photographers, born in 1973 in the North of Finland in Rovaniemi. She studied at the Lahti Institute of Design and Helsinki’s University of Art and Design, both in Finland, as well as at the HochschulefürKunst und Gestaltung in Zürich, Switzerland. She held her first solo show in 1996. Although her main medium is photography, she often combines it to colorful painting and enjoys playing with oppositions; black and white or color, the real or the abstract, the past or the present. She is also producing large-scale public commission works.

Mads Peter Iversen (Denmark)

Mads Peter Iversen is a Danish photographer living in Aarhus and Silkeborg in Denmark. He started as a photographer in 2011, although his experience with video editing goes even further back to 2002. After successfully trying out different photography genres, such as headshot photography and commercial videography, he has settled on fine art landscape pictures. While he finds inspiration all over the world, Iversen is especially drawn to the cold and harsh yet stunningly beautiful Nordic nature. He shoots to edit, meaning that half of the work is done in the editing phase when the pictures come to life, his mood always influencing the final product.

Stefan Isaksson (Sweden) 

Stefan Isaksson, born in 1974, is a Swedish advertising and landscape photographer based in Gothenburg, Sweden. After receiving a scholarship from Kodak and The Swedish Association of Nature Photographers in 2006, his career prospered. One of the recurring topics in his works is the Nordic landscape shown in calm compositions, low light and subtle color palettes. Isaksson often hikes to remote places, usually during seasons when the weather is unpredictable and the conditions outside are tough. In return, he gets the opportunity to capture unique views in exceptional light. 

Astrid Kruse Jensen (Denmark)

Astrid Kruse Jensen is one of Denmark’s most established photography-based visual artists. Born in 1975 in Aarhus, Denmark, she studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in the Netherlands and in Scotland at the Glasgow School of Art’s fine art photography department. In her works, she explores the borderland between the apparent and the hidden, the real and the imaginary. She is known for her night photography, but also dreamy images exploring the concept of memory and time. Jensen uses the camera as a tool for storytelling and plays with what is shown and what is not, leaving the viewer to interpret the meaning.

Sandra Kantanen (Finland)

Born in 1974 in Helsinki, Sandra Kantanen studied photography at the Finnish capital’s Aalto University, graduating with a Master’s degree in 2003. She also studied painting at the Central Academy of Art in Beijing, China, focusing on Chinese landscape painting. Nowadays she lives and works in Hanko, the southernmost peninsula in Finland. She photographs mainly landscapes, combining photography and painting with both traditional pigments and digital tools. She is questioning what makes the picture and paying attention to the specific elements of photography: light-shadow, surface-depth, focus-blur, analog-digital, and what is real and what staged.

Inka & Niclas Lindergård (Finland and Sweden)

Inka (b. 1985 in Finland) and Niclas (b. 1984 in Sweden) Lindergård form an awarded artist duo, primarily focusing on photography-based art. They have worked together since 2007 and currently live in Stockholm, Sweden. Bringing new life into landscape photography, they challenge the way we look at the frontier between humans and nature with their unconventional and contemporary imagery. Inspired by popular culture, their work investigates the role of the photographer as a messenger of nature’s mysterious image.

Tine Poppe (Norway)

Tine Poppe is a photographer and visual storyteller living and working in Oslo, Norway. Her practice focuses on bringing attention to social, political and environmental issues, in particular the refugee crisis, racism and climate change through art and documentary photography. Her work has been published in prominent publications and various photography magazines around the world, and it has been nominated for numerous international prizes and awards.

Stig Marlon Weston (Norway)

Since graduating from photography college in Norway in 1995, Stig Marlon Weston has worked as a photographer. He is influenced by his Norwegian background, but equally inspired by the city of Berlin, artist residencies in Spain and Brazil, and exhibiting in London and New York. He has developed a distinct style of camera-less photography, creating new ways of capturing the world beyond the normal human field of vision. Using only light and film or photo paper to create his images, he is pushing the medium of photography back to its roots of truth-based printmaking. 

Indonesian artists:

Vicky Tanzil

Born in 1986 in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Vicky Tanzil’s works are inspired by the word "freedom". He studied at Petra University in Surabaya, Indonesia, graduating as a Bachelor in Visual Communication. Since then he has been traveling all over the world, working with a variety of mediums and winning awards. Always following his instinct, he is obsessed with avoiding the mundane humdrum and producing unique photos out of the ordinary. 

Alexander Thian

Alexander Thian is a young Indonesian artist specializing in photography. With over 316 000 followers on Instagram, he is a social media phenomenon, who keeps captivating the audience with his unique storytelling skills. Passionate about travelling, he spends most of his time exploring the world and shooting in the most exotic locations. He is currently based in Jakarta.

About ISA Art Advisory

ISA Art Advisory is a Jakarta-based art consultancy offering a full range of services for corporate and individual clients. The objective is to increase public awareness and highlight the benefits of bringing art out of museums and galleries into public spaces. ISA Art Advisory provides art consultation services from strategy and planning, to procurement, installation and insurance. With expertise in both international and Southeast Asian art, and a passion for Indonesian modern and contemporary art, ISA assists clients in starting or developing their collections and incorporating art in all aspects of their life, whether at home or in the office. 

About Indonesian Luxury 

 IndonesianLuxury.com offers the most comprehensive online resource for everything you need for acquiring, building or styling your home in Indonesia. Indonesian Luxury is the complete 360-degree solution for art and design, providing a curated listing of the most interesting Indonesian galleries, interior designers, architects, luxury furnishings and real estate.

About PT Jakarta Land

Founded in 1973, Jakarta Land unites the global experience and capability of Hongkong Land, with the local knowledge and insights of CCM. World Trade Centre (WTC) comprises 210,000 square metres of Grade A commercial office space across five buildings in the heart of Jakarta’s CBD. Home to some of the world’s leading multinational corporations and managed by a highly-trained team of professionals, WTC has long been seen as Jakarta’s benchmark for quality property management, attention to detail and long-term partnerships.

For further information, please contact:

ISA Art Advisory

Michelle Florida

Tel: +62 21 723 39 05

Email: projects@isaartadvisory.com

bw communications for ISA Art Advisory

DianGunanti

Senior Public Relations Coordinator

Tel: + 62 21 8378 1343 / +62 813 1149 3884

Email: dian@bwcomms.com