Markus Henttonen: Twisted Tales –Road to Hope | Portfolio
The new series from Finnish photographer Markus Henttonen (b. 1976) is a complex journey through landscape, time and emotions. Twisted Tales –Road to Hope consists of precise and yet beautifully poetic portraits, narrative actions and landscapes. This conscious randomness of the photographs create the feeling of a lifelong road trip taking forward through events, emotions and encounters. Twisted Tales strongly balances between the thin interface of real and imaginary. And everything seems so familiar yet there is something strange.
With this series Henttonen has changed his working methods, and in a way returned to the freedom and unrestricted approach of his early photography career. Photographing has been more intuitive and the careful and concentrated editing has only happened afterwards. In photography the unexpected and incidental aspects are always present. Even with a great idea and good planning you cannot not and should not control everything. That unpredictable nature of photography is what makes it so interesting -and also kind of similar to life.
During his years in photography Markus Henttonen´s style has grown recognizable with expression being simultaneously intense and delicate. As a visual storyteller he has shifted from documentary approach deeper into narratives. But the stories in his photographs are only suggestions and the focus is on emotions. It is like he is subtly guiding the viewer to feel and interpret. Henttonen´s undertone of wistful melancholy is present throughout the series in the landscape and peoples´ gestures but at the same time there is this distinct feeling of hope.
Twisted Tales is like life, a unique and exciting travel with joy and sadness of desire and despair combining the most personal with things common. Memories, dreams and reality mix up to profound layers. Despite the flashbacks from the past and the unexpected turns this journey is going forward. It almost feels like a puzzle that will never really be complete. There will always be something little out of place, a little bit twisted.
