EIJA-LIISAAHTILA(b. 1959)Dog Bites Series.Series of eight color photographs framed and mounted.32 x 43 ⅜ in. (81.3 x 110.2 cm) | 43 ⅜ x 32 in. (110.2 x 81.3 cm) each.Executed 1992-1997.This work is from an edition of three and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.Provenance
Galerie Roger Pailhas, MarseillesExhibited
Helsinki, Kiasma Museum of Art, Eija-Liisa Ahtila: Fantasized Persons and Taped Conversations, February 23-April 28, 2002;
London, Tate Modern, April 30-July 28, 2002, pp. 38-39 and 234 (another example exhibited);
Kunsthalle Zurich, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, June 15-August 11, 2002;
National Gallery of Victoria, World Rush;
4 Artists, December 4, 2003-February 15, 2004 (another example exhibited)Literature
R. Block, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Kassel 1998, p. 29;
M. Hirvi, ed. Eija-Liisa Ahtila: Fantasized Persons and Taped Conversations, Helsinki, 2002, pp. 38-39 and 234 (illustrated);
D. Waite, ed., World Rush: 4 Artists, Australia 2003, pp. 64-65 (details of two works illustrated)Eiija-Liisa Ahtila's photographic works are deeply steeped in cinematic process. For her, the language of film-making is central to all of her works. Trained as a film-maker in her native Finland, Ahtila considers three key elements to be at the core of her creative process; the construction of the images, the manner in which the narrative elements take shape and unfold and the actual space in which they occupy and encounter the viewer.

She describes her work as "human dramas", fictional narratives that emerge from lengthy periods of research as well as her own observations and experiences. (Susan May taken from Love, Sexuality, Jealously, Anger, Vulnerability, London, 2002, n.p)

The present lot Dog Bites, 1992-1997 is an early series of photographic explorations. The work is comprised of eight panels identically framed and mounted depicting a woman acting out various poses associated with canine behavior. "Ahtila refuses to to identify the woman depicted in the photographs or even confirm authorship of this work. After suggestions that the model could be the artist herself, Ahtila published an accompanying text entitled This Woman is not Me." (ibid) In this text she states:

"What happened when I or we took the photos? Did I extend my body – postures and attitudes-the history of my character , upon her body?If the point in the photos is posing and my friend is doing it, isn't she doing it at all? Was she making the photos and I taking them? So maybe I'll ask you, am I not the woman?" (ibid)