Estonian Documents
Estonia
2019
The human face is the best tool to document time. With this conviction in mind, Birgit Püve explores the features of her fellow countrymen and women and attempts to find a correlation between the essence of Estonia and its citizens’ faces. The country’s very essence has been unclear in the past. After a short period of independence, Estonia was subjected to the tragic 20th-century events. Only twenty four years ago did the last Russian soldiers leave the country, finally enabling the Estonians to reconstruct their national and personal identity.
As if the chaotic history of this small Eastern European country could be written and read in the portraits of these known or anonymous Estonians.
Portfolio
About the artist
Born in 1978, Birgit Püve is a photographer based in Tallinn, Estonia. Most of her work explores subjects connected with memory and identity.
Her works have been exhibited in solo exhibitions in UK, Germany, Poland, Russia and
Estonia and in numerous group exhibitions, also published in publications such as The Washington Post, The Monocle, The Guardian, Le Monde, L’Express, among others.