©Sari Vennola

WALL FLOWERS

I have been photographing the residents of old people's homes since autumn 2005. Ageing is something we actively try to forget, and we do not always notice the beauty of older people. Wall Flowers underlines the fact that old people are not a group somehow separate from the rest of the society, we all approach old age with every passing day.
The shooting situation is often more important than the resultant photograph, and I am grateful that so many people trusted me and agreed to pose for the camera. Some of them were initially a bit bashful, and I often heard jokes about how the camera might break, because the subject is too old or wrinkled. However, wrinkles tell about a life lived and they are part of us, memories of the past. A photograph presents an opportunity to get to know the person in the photo, and it can tell something personal and magical about the tiny moment recorded in the picture.