15th of May 2009 a photo exhibition „People of this Land“ will be opened in Raadi manor park. The exhibition portraits different people from all over Estonia at the beginning of the 21st century.

Preparations for the “People of this Land” (“Meie siin maal”) exhibition began in summer 2008, while within the framework of a fieldwork project called “Estonian Types”, 49 settlements located in all of Estonia’s counties were visited. “Estonian Types” was a joint project of photographer Alar Madisson and the Estonian National Museum, during which inhabitants of Estonia of different ages, ethnic and social groups were photographed in order to supplement the museum’s photographic collection.

During this documentation of the present, nearly 500 urban and rural people, including local cultural and business figures, researchers, doctors, teachers, students and people from other walks of life, were photographed either wearing their everyday clothing, uniforms or festive costumes.

The youngest models were four one-year-olds and the oldest was a 92-year-old woman of Polish origin, photographed on a visit to her granddaughter on the island of Abruka. Apart from the Polish woman, other non-indigenous peoples such as Russians, Hungarians, Finns, Tatars, Azeris, Ukrainians and Maris were photographed. Only one-third of the material is on display in the windows of the Raadi manor’s main building.

This open air exhibitio shows the diversity of Estonian society, using its inhabitants to tell the story. We live in the middle of a mosaic and our wellbeing depends, among other things, on whether and to what extent we know and trust one another.

Curators: Maris Rosenthal, Alar Madisson
Website: erm.ee/peopleofthisland