In the Eye of the Beholder - Katsojan silmässä on valokuvanäyttely, joka tarjoaa ainutlaatuisen näkymän legendaarisen runoilijan elämään. Osa Joan Gannyn ottamista Charles Bukowski-potreteista oli esillä Laterna Magicassa lähes 30 vuotta sitten, vuonna 1997. Tässä näyttelyssä nähdään sekä noita ikonisia, että ennennäkemättömia valokuvia ajalta, jolloin Ganny työskenteli Bukowskin kanssa.
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In the Eye of the Beholder is an extraordinary photography exhibition offering an intimate portrait of the legendary poet. Joan Ganny first exhibited her portraits of Charles Bukowski in Laterna Magica's galleries back in 1997. This exhibition includes both iconic and never-before-seen photographs captured during her unprecedented access to Bukowski.
Shot on vintage Kodak Tri-X and Kodachrome film, Ganny’s photographs illuminate “the man behind the myth”, revealing Bukowski in rare moments of reflection, humor, and candor. The collection includes close-up portraits and vivid glimpses of his everyday life, creating one of the most personal visual records of the poet ever assembled.
For Ganny, the exhibition represents both a return and a revelation. “It is thrilling to bring Charles Bukowski back to Helsinki. I had no idea when I reluctantly agreed to initially photograph him for a friend’s article in Rolling Stone half a century ago, that the work would have such an impact abroad, as well as decades after his death. Some of the images seemed too serious at the time, too intimate, and never were printed. His publisher John Martin, of Black Sparrow Press contacted me in 1994 after Bukowski’s death and asked if I had any photos he hadn’t yet seen, and I showed him these. According to Carl Weissner. Bukowski’s longtime friend and German translator, ‘’these images are fascinating and iconic.”
The exhibition will have an opening reception on Tuesday October 6th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., but as Ganny herself is unable to attend the opening, we will host a separate artist talk with Joan Ganny and author Anna Piiroinen on Saturday October 10th, at 3 p.m.
Special limited editions of 50x70cm fine art photographs—available in black and white—will be available for exhibition visitors. These works, along with postcards, and posters, will be available for purchase through Laterna Magica for the duration of the exhibition.
About Joan Ganny
Joan Ganny makes photographs about the people she writes about. She was born in New York City, raised in Hollywood, and has been based in Amsterdam since 1987. Her mother Adele was a glamour photographer who put a camera in her hand when she was five. Her father gave her a typewriter when she was eight. Joan started her career as a broadcast and print journalist in the mid-1970s, freelancing for the LA Times, Los Angeles magazine, and Penthouse, making interviews with Henry Miller, Joan Baez, and Muhammad Ali, among many others. She also documented one of the first homeless women in southern California, which changed her life and was the stimulus for her to eventually emigrate to Europe. She is an award-winning children’s book author (Elusive Moose, Hidden Hippo; Barefoot Books), jazz and pop lyricist, and has published three chapbooks. In 2021, she was the editor and contributor to INSIDE BLACK, a book that explored the many facets of the powerful color. She recently completed a memoir, One-Way Ticket and continues using her analogue cameras to make portraits of people in their environments.
Joan Ganny has exhibited her work in Laterna Magica on three occasions in the late 1990's. Ganny is also the subject of an upcoming book by Anna Piiroinen called Joan ja minä (Joan and I) published in October 2026 by WSOY. She is also the author of a new children’s book “Jag drömmer om älgar” (in Swedish from Litorale publishers), to be published in October 2026.
