In the early 1950s, at a highpoint in Finnish design culture, Aho (b. 1925, Finland) established a Helsinki-based photography studio under her own name. Her prolific output spanned advertising, editorial, reportage and fashion for a range of commercial applications. She dealt with all aspects of the creative process, from casting models, set-making, styling and lighting to developing and printing her own images.

Aho’s relationship to the studio space is taken as the starting point for this exhibition, and is used as a prism through which to understand the relationship with her subjects, and – in particular – her dialogue with form, colour and pattern. Evidence of the mechanics of the image making process, such as colour charts, studio lights and backdrops are often included within the frame of the exhibited images.

The exhibition will also include a display of original materials where the images have been cropped and combined with graphics for magazine covers, advertising and packaging.

The photographs, spanning her career from 1950 to 1970, illustrate Aho’s trademark vibrancy and humour, through formally inventive compositions and scenarios constantly reimagined.

Claire Aho currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden. The grandchild of the celebrated author Juhani Aho and painter Venny Soldan-Brofeldt, she obtained her first camera at the age of ten. Her work was appraised in a major retrospective at Taidehalli, Helsinki in 2011.

Watch a video interview with Claire Aho.