Gallery: The Woman Who Married a Horse

Wilma Hurskainen`s series The Woman Who Married a Horse shows young women spending time with horses. As the title of the series suggests it’s even their lives and realities they seem to share with horses. The enthusiasm for horses, which many young girls and women share is the topic of the photographs only on the surface. “The Woman Who Married a Horse is a story about our longing to control something stronger than ourselves”, states Wilma Hurskainen. The images she chose are borrowed from horse stories, girl’s books and folklore. But her photographs suggest much more than the general image of an innocent girlish dedication to horses. There is something disturbing in the idyllic sceneries. A certain determination, a slight exaggeration in the devotion.
The girls seem to undergo unconcious experiences with power and sexuality. They all seem to be in the process of formation of their identity. The photographs show the horse as object of desire and at the same time as a protective entity. The dualism which is present in every photograph creates the ambiguous atmosphere. Wilma Hurskainen operates with shards of the visual world and creates ambivalent dream-like sceneries which stir up stereotypes and easy explanations.