Photographic artist Vesa Aaltonen has created a digital collage by combining a painting by Santeri Salokivi (1886-1940) with a photograph taken from the same location. In this work, the collage-like merging of different temporal layers brings the artistic perspectives of different eras into dialogue with one another. The historical layers present in the artworks encourage viewers to observe the subjects with a heightened awareness of change over time.

The techniques—Salokivi’s painting and Aaltonen’s photograph—blend together at times almost imperceptibly, yet they continue to reflect on shared historical and symbolic meanings. This interplay invites comparisons and interpretations across both media and time periods.

The Aura River Valley is part of Finland’s national landscape. The city of Turku, which developed along the banks of the Aura River, will celebrate its 800th anniversary in 2029. In the city centre, near today’s Old Great Square, the skyline has been dominated for nearly as long by the church that was consecrated as Turku Cathedral on June 17, 1300. This same national landscape has long inspired artists; many well-known painters have rendered it in their own distinctive styles.

Vesa Aaltonen’s earlier work Aaltonen Salutes Reinberg, a series exploring the relationship between past and present, won the open call for artworks organised by Turku Museum Centre and the Museum of History and the Future in 2023. The series was exhibited in Kirkkopuisto that same year.

Santeri Salokivis painting View from the bank of Aura River (1913) is part of the Museum Ett Hem’s collection.