“For the Sambia, the essence of life is fluid; it is in blood, female
milk and male milk. Human bodies are not producers of fluid
but conduits of fluids“, philosopher Alphonso Lingis writes
about Sambia people living in Papua New-Quinea.
Milky Way is a series of male milk (semen) and female milk
(breast milk) shot close up on my living room table.
The series is inspired by Panspermia, a theory of ‘seeds of life’
expanding and traveling everywhere in the Universe. Some
believe that life on Earth may have originated through these
seeds of life. Humans can be seen as conduits of these seeds of
life, the same way Lingis sees Sambian people as conduits of
female and male milk.
“Men are men when they give male milk to women and to boys;
when it ceases to flow, they lose their maleness and become
sexually indeterminate. Male and female identity is in the flow
and is a fluid identity”, Lingis writes.
They both dry up within a day on the table.
Maija Tammi (b. 1985) is a Finnish photographer and artist currently based in Helsinki. Tammi’s photographs and sculptures converse on topics around disgust, fear and abnormality.
Her works have been acclaimed and exhibited in Finland, France, Croatia, Japan and USA.
She is currently working on her practice-based doctoral thesis (Aalto University's Doctoral Programme in Arts, Design and Architecture) at an artist residency in France.
Tammi is a member of a Finnish photography collective 11
Awards PUBLICATIONS
2014 Book Leftover/Removals with publisher Kehrer Verlag,
COMING EXHIBITIONS
2015 Milky Way at Gallery Korjaamo in Helsinki, Finland, solo exhibition.
2015 Leftover and Removals at Oxford University, solo exhibition
SOLO/COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
(most recent only)
2015 Leftover at Photographic Centre Peri, Turku, solo exhibition.
2014 Two live-video installations with Aapo Huhta at Our Festival, Järvenpää, Finland.
2014 Crisis? exhibition by collective 11 at Hailuoto, Finland.
2014 Leftover at Photographic Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki, Finland, solo exhibition.
2013 Removals at Galerija Makina, in Pula, Croatia, solo exhibition.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
(most recent only)
2014 Group exhibition at gallery Tanto Tempo, Kobe, Japan.
2013 Juried group exhibition with series Dwarfdom at Les Visas de l'ANI 2013 at gallery Bar Floreal in Paris, France.
2012 New York Photo Festival award and exhibition in two categories: documentary series and multimedia, Powerhouse Arena, Dumbo, New York, USA
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
2015 Artist residency in France for 6 months, Finnish Cultural ministry
2013 Patricia Seppälä Photojournalism Award for Collective 11.
2012 New York Photo Festival Award in two categories: documentary series and multimedia
2011 Fotofinlandia award, www.fotofinlandia.fi
