Juha Arvid HELMINEN

Profile

Born in Helsinki in 1977. Lives and works in Helsinki. Graduated with a BA in Photography from Lahti Institute of Design in 2010.
Helminen was born to a working-class family. He likes to tell stories through character design and strong atmosphere. His photo series, "The Invisible Empire" has been in exhibitions in five continents as the themes of misuse of power are universal.

Recent exhibitions
2023 “Masks and Peaks,” Galleria Skarpans, Kvarnbo Gästhem, Åland Islands
2023 “Jorney Into the Invisible,” Vanilla Gallery, Tokyo
2018 “El Imperio Invisible,” Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogotá, Bogota, Colombia
2017 “Backlight Photo Festival,” Tampere art museum, Tampere, Finland
2013 “Invisible Empire,” Photography Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki

About works

Helminen has explored themes of misuse of power in society, the eternal destructive loop that seems to be the human condition, the sad disability of not learning from past mistakes. How ugly ideas and deeds are veiled in a beautiful ways, in rituals, uniforms and promises of safety in order to sell these destructive ideas to the masses. The photo series "The Invisible Empire" expands upon centuries of human failures.
In his new work, Helminen aims to explore in the form animation shorts subjects where failures communication, lack of respect and empathy correlate into trauma, personal and societal.