║ Esko Manniko ║

Himself a 36-year-old northern Finn who lives in Oulu, Mannikko knows his people. He visits and often stays with them for a day or two to achieve the images that say what can be said about them. His portraits are overwhelmingly fact-filled and naked, delivering more truth more suddenly than can be absorbed, no matter how long you look at them. With allowance for the greater formality of his photographs, he reminds me of Nan Goldin, who similarly causes pictures to happen like congested freeze-frames within achingly intimate, dark flows of life.
Also like Goldin, Mannikko knows how kicked-up color can function analytically, drawing almost tactile attention to the quiddities of things.
Peter Schjedahl