Gallery: Jussi Lautu – IN/VISIBILITY
Jussi Lautu’s photographic exhibition IN/VISIBILITY reflects on the politics of visibility and asks on what terms—and for whom—becoming visible is possible. In struggles for minority rights, photography is often used for its evidentiary power, placing emphasis on making individuals and phenomena visible. The series also highlights how visibility can place those depicted in a vulnerable position or leave something essential unseen.
At the heart of the exhibition are 117 self‑portraits by nonbinary individuals*, created in collaboration with the participants. The subjects had full control over their self‑representation: they made and selected the portraits themselves. The exhibition can be considered a joint exhibition of 118 people, as the portraits are taken by those who appear in them. The self‑portraits were created as part of Lautu’s Master’s thesis in photographic art and their doctoral dissertation in gender studies between 2020 and 2024.
Alongside the self‑portraits, the exhibition presents failed views—glitches and distortions captured from Google Street View. These images challenge notions of normativity and clarity. In the works, failure emerges as a source of strength and a means of revealing the constructed nature of prevailing norms.
Jussi Lautu (they/she, b. 1985) is a photographic artist and a doctoral researcher in gender studies who lives and works in Helsinki. Their artistic practice focuses on gender diversity and on dismantling power relations embedded in photographic representation.
The project has been supported by the Kone Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation Uusimaa Fund, Finnfoto ry, the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Kansan sivistysrahasto, and the Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation.
* In this context, nonbinary individuals are understood as people who do not experience or express their gender identity in accordance with a binary male–female understanding of gender.