WILLAS contemporary welcomes you to IVAR Stockholm at the historical Matchstick Palace, and the exhibition Ever Since 1969 by Arno Rafael Minkkinen. The exhibition spans from vintage photographs of the early 1970s to his latest creations in 2025, capturing a lifetime of bold curiosity and creative adventure.
Since 1969, Minkkinen has dedicated himself to an ongoing series of unmanipulated nude self-portraits. His practice, grounded in a deep connection to the landscapes he photographs, explores themes of human vulnerability and the intrinsic link between body and environment. Minkkinen’s oeuvre has profoundly influenced the genre of self-portraiture with one of the longest-running, non-stop, self-portrait bodies of work in the history of photography.
Educated in English Literature at Wagner College, Minkkinen’s career trajectory shifted after a stint as a Madison Avenue copywriter, inspiring him to pursue photography under the mentorship of Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he earned his MFA. A Guggenheim fellow, Minkkinen has balanced his artistic practice with a robust academic career, now serving as Emeritus Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts and Docent at Aalto University in Helsinki.
Minkkinen’s works are a staple in over 75 esteemed collections globally, and his commitment to education is mirrored in his extensive teaching across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. His unique vision and relentless exploration of the self-portrait have not only marked him as a pivotal figure in contemporary photography but also as a bridge between the visual poetics of body and space. The exhibition showcases Arno Rafael Minkkinen’s photography spanning from 1970 to 2025, captured across thirty countries and thirty-one American states. The exhibition isn’t laid out chronologically nor is it a retrospective. Instead, it’s an introspective focusing on the existential human condition through self-portraiture, offering an exuberant experience from an artist who has eluded categorization for almost six decades.
Arno Rafael Minkkinen : Ever since 1969
Until September 30, 2025
WILLAS contemporary at IVAR Stockholm
The Matchstick Palace
Västra Trädgårdsgatan 15
Stockholm, Sweden
www.ivarstockholm.se
