Heikki Leis captures water’s shifting distortions in new exhibition

Photographer Heikki Leis has opened “Storm Before Silence” at Fotografiska, an art venue, where his portraits explore the interaction between the human body and water, ERR reported. Leis said the exhibition’s title reflects a world where one storm seems to follow another.

One room features “Rippling Surfaces,” a series of portraits photographed through water. Leis sought out the reflections, glimmers and distortions created by water, and developed the idea of placing an aquarium with a person inside on its surface.

He recruited people of different ages, body types and skin tones, as well as people with tattoos. Participants needed to feel comfortable in the water, he said, as diving into the aquarium was not easy for everyone.

Leis said he had long been fascinated by the underwater world but had to find his own method because clear-water diving lakes are scarce in Estonia and the water is cold. He described water as a rewarding material because it creates unexpected distortions.

The exhibition is accompanied by a book with texts by Jan Kaus. He said the photographs captured water’s restless, constantly moving nature and drew his attention to its mysterious presence in everyday life.