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84. MY PICTURE YOUR PICTURE,
15 December 1997 - 5 April 1998

Portraits were the theme of the winter exhibition at the Sara Hildén Art Museum. The exhibition entitled MY PICTURE YOUR PICTURE showed the history and present-day of portraits as seen through works of art, posters, photographs as well as textual material. The exhibition was made up of portraits belonging to the collection of the Sara Hildén Art Museum, as well as portraits of members of the Tampere Artists' Association and portraits and self-portraits made by children at Tampere day-care centres. Works in the exhibition included Kimmo Kaivanto's sketches for the portraits of writer Väinö Linna and President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, as well as sketches for the portrait of Gustavus III in Tori (Central Square), a painting which depicts the history of Tampere. There was a separate section in the exhibition for portraits in posters.

Portraits continue to play an important role in our lives. The exhibition showed the multiplicity of ways in which a portrait and self-portrait can be executed and the very different aspects of a person that can be shown with a portrait. Some portraits are profound psychological studies, whereas others merely depict the external features of the subject. Not all portraits aim at depicting the subject's character, but rather at showing symbols connected with the person's role in society. Portraits of royalty are typical examples of this kind. Photography is of tremendous importance in portraits nowadays, either used by itself or in conjunction with other techniques. A performance may act as a self-portrait. The posters of rock stars, film stars and ice hockey players are typical portraits of the present day.

Children attending the day-care centres in Tampere designed the posters for the exhibition, which were on display on the streets of Tampere during the exhibition.

6,450 visitors attended the exhibition.