User:Svijil/Peeter Laurits

Peeter Laurits (born 06.03.1962 in Tallinn, Estonia) is an Estonian artist, photographer and essayist. He has enriched the instruments of photographic expression, and broadened the role of photography in Estonian art scene.

Education
Laurits has studied at Tartu and Leningrad State Universities, Estonian Humanitarian Institute and New York International Center of Photography. In 2017 he was elected a visiting professor for liberal arts at Tartu university.

Work
During first years of his career he founded DeStudio with Herkki-Erich Merila and was engaged with media critical approach. In 1996 he turned to deep ecology, moved into forest where he lived for 12 years and combined bronze age lifestyle with post-industrial imagemaking technologies. He founded the Open Valley Studio and turned it into an interdisciplinary residency hub. Founded and curated the Hunter’s Valley nature art path in Võru county. After returning to his hometown Tallinn his work remains focused on ecology, wilderness, other life forms and post-humanism.

The connecting thread in Laurits’s artistic work is the overlapping and transitions between different realms, ambivalence and surreal sensitivity. His work contains abundant references and quotes from various time periods and media. His works can be found in many museums and private collections, monumental works have been ordered for public spaces. In 2005 he was decorated with the Order of the White Star.

Books
“Bridge to Beyond and Back” 2012, ISBN 9789949307135

“DeStudio. Diseases and Metamorphoses of the 90s”. 2021, ISBN