Estonia Through 100 Pairs of Eyes

The project gives a visual overview of Estonia’s story told by 100 Estonians and Estonian-spirited people ages 1 year to 100, through their portraits, eyes, and emotions. The oldest – 100-year-old – was born the same year as the Republic of Estonia, in 1918. The youngest was born on February 24, 2017. There is only one person for each year of the Republic of Estonia! In parallel with the portraits, we introduce the country of Estonia, as a place, where we are all from, and where we live. This way, views of the most well-known Estonian places (the Old Town of Tallinn), buildings (farmhouses), emotions (the song festival), accomplishments (e-Estonia), phenomena (bogs) are also portrayed. This gives those who do not know Estonia well, an idea of our country’s culture, nature, technical accomplishments, cuisine, and traditions. The two visuals, the portraits and atmosphere, are tied together by short texts in Estonian and English.

Idea and concept: Kaire van der Toorn-Guthan and Toomas Volkmann

Exhibition curator: Kaire van der Toorn-Guthan

Portraits: Toomas Volkmann

Photos of Estonian moods/atmospheres: Tõnu Runnel and Tõnu Tunnel

Text: Tiiu Suvi, Piret Jaaks, Mirjam Matiisen, Helina Piip

Translation into English: Ingrid Hübscher, Triin Tael, Silja Ild

Graphic design: Kaire van der Toorn-Guthan

Exhibition print and materials: Erick Vandergeest, gawck

Studio tech: 35 mm

Make-up: Liis Piksar, Nele Raudik, Arlin Saan, Katrin Rosen, Kristiina Nurmhein, Katrin Sangla

The exhibit is accompanied by a book.