Photo Exhibition Extraordinary Kihnu in Rikhardinkatu Library

05.12.2007

EXTRAORDINARY KIHNU - Rikhardinkatu Library, November 2007

Photographer Jaan Rõõmus:

I have taken photos at the Kihnu island since 1972.
I went there occasionally and the result of all this was that the island with its simple nature  and nice people became the main object of my photographing until today.

There have been lots of weddings, funerals, common voluntary working days, anniversaries, birthdays in Kihnu. I have been photographing all of these events as much as I could, and lately I have also went around with a video camera.

I have thousands of pictures of witch I have compiled about 10 exhibitions. I have had exhibitions in Tallinn, Riga, and Finland, in South-Karelia photo ceter. This particular exhibition “Extraordinary Kihnu” is the first time these pictures are exhibited.

I have brought here to Rikhardinkatu Library mainly photos that I took on the ORWO UT 18 diapositive slides in the 1980s. When naming the exhibition I thought about the moments of the islands life that may not ever happen again, and if they happen, then not very often. The photographed wedding in 1994 is one of the last ones, where it was possible to see the old traditions and manners of Kihnu island.

I became a photographer in 1971 and worked a very long time for the Estonian Open Air museum at Rocca al Mare and Estonian Television. Beginning from 1988 I have been working as a photo and video specialist at the Board of Border Guard.