Still Not There, Arno Rafael Minkkinen

  • Finland, Germany
  • 1996
  • fi
  • en
  • 50'

As we are nude in the significant moments of our existence, why not every once in a while, throughout our lives, see the nudity in ourselves? One of the questions raised by photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen. Firstly in Finland’s bare and frozen landscapes, he plays with his body, with nature and shows us his fantastic and witty entanglements. His self-portraits never seek to glorify the photographer’s body, which appears and disappears in his images like an enigma. Writer Michel Tournier sees his photography as Arabic calligraphy, an abstract and sophisticated sign.

Still Not There, Arno Rafael Minkkinen
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Synopsis

As we are nude in the significant moments of our existence, why not every once in a while, throughout our lives, see the nudity in ourselves? One of the questions raised by photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen. Firstly in Finland’s bare and frozen landscapes, he plays with his body, with nature and shows us his fantastic and witty entanglements. His self-portraits never seek to glorify the photographer’s body, which appears and disappears in his images like an enigma. Writer Michel Tournier sees his photography as Arabic calligraphy, an abstract and sophisticated sign.

What you will learn in this film...

An original photographer • Nude self-portraits • Humour with nature and the body • The photographer’s private life • The artist’s staging during photo shoots • His words on his work • Experimental videos in which he reveals himself • Scandinavia’s breathtaking nature • The cameras Arno Minkkinen uses • His reflections on life and death • Novelist Michel Tournier’s  perspective • Archive images of the artist’s life • The photographer in his life • The photographer searching for the image

Most photographers look through the view finder. I look at the camera.

Film chapters

summary00:00 The body as sign

summary10:37 A search for perfection

summary21:08 Sense of humour and derision

summary27:35 Becoming one with nature

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Further exploration

Bibliography

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• FROSTBITE - artist : Arno Rafael Minkkinen ; author : Ziva Kwitney ; 1978 ; Morgan and Morgan 

• ARNO MINKKINEN, WATERLINE - artist : Arno Minkkinen ; author : Michel Tournier ; 1994 ; Marval ; French

• ARNO MINKKINEN, BODY LAND - artist and author : Arno Minkkinen ; 1999 ; Smithsonian Books 

• SAGA: THE JOURNEY OF ARNO RAFAEL MINKKINEN - artist : Arno Rafael Minkkinen ; 2005 ; Chronicle Books

• SURROUNDED BY NO ONE - authors : Margaret M De Lange and Arno Rafael Minkkinen ; 2011 ; Trolley

• TRAJECTORIES: A HALF-CENTURY OF PORTRAITS - artist : Arno Rafael Minkkinen ; author : Martha Casanave ; 2013 ; Image Continuum Press

• MINKKINEN - artist : Arno Rafael Minkkinen ; authors : Davis Keith F. and Goldberg Vicki ; 2019 ; Kehrer Verlag