The People of Kihnu Island (Woman Entering)

Maker Kiiler (Linnap), Eve Estonian, b. 1960

Date1985

MediumGelatin silver print

Dimensionsimage: 5 13/16 in x 9 in; paper: 7 in x 10 5/16 in

Credit LineGift of Roy H. and Ann T. Boyd

Object number2007:362

About the ArtistAn artist and curator, Eve Kiiler has been an active figure in the arts in Estonia since the late 1980s. In 1985, Kiiler photographed on Kinhu, a small island in the Baltic Sea that is home to less around 500 people, completing a series of photographs entitled People of Kinhu Island. Existing in relative isolation, the residents of Kinhu maintain a traditional lifestyle. Four photographs from this project are represented in the Museum of Contemporary Photography's collection, portraying various settings on the island that focus on the women residents.

Estonia gained its independence from Russia in 1991, after being annexed by the Soviet Union since World War II. By the middle of the decade activities in the arts began to expand dramatically, and Kiiler (then named Eve Linnap) and her husband Peeter Linnap played significant roles. In addition to making photographic work in a mode of social critique, ironically addressing notions of national and personal identity, the couple also curated the first two editions of the international Saaremaa Biennial, which confirmed Estonia's place within the circuits of contemporary art.