Venue: Próféta Galéria
Address:1111 Budapest, Szent Gellért tér.

On dispay until 26 April

Open from Monday to Friday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Free entrance.

The creator of the exhibit, artist and social educator Miina Savolainen will guide visitors through the exhibition April 25, 2013.

Miina Savolainen will discuss the touching story of the project with an introduction to the method of empowering photography April 26, 2013.

The Loveliest Girl in the World

Children's homes do not house problem youth, but fairies

The most successful Finnish photography project of all time is on display in Budapest from March 23 to April 26, 2013, courtesy of Finnagora, The Finnish Institute in Budapest. The exhibition arrives in Budapest from Ottawa, Canada and Washington, D.C. and New York, United States as part of its international tour in Europe and North America.

The Loveliest Girl in the World can be seen in its entirety at Próféta Galéria. Finland and the ambassador of Finland in Budapest, Mr. Pasi Tuominen, host the exhibition to stress the importance of gender equality, human rights of children and empowerment of women and girls.

The Loveliest Girl in the World is a photography project unique in scope, realized by artist Miina Savolainen who portrayed ten girls growing up in a children’s home. The overlooked and mistreated girls were photographed on their own terms in order for the girls and those around them to appreciate their worth. The idea for the project was borne out of Miina Savolainen´s understanding that verbal communication was not a sufficient tool to heal children whose trust had been broken with words.

Everyone is entitled to feel precious and beloved

The Loveliest Girl in the World exhibition is a touching coming-of-age story of marginalized children becoming visible and discovering their self-acceptance. In the photos the girls could see themselves as whole and valuable. Mythical nature in the photos appears as the protector of wounded children The photos impart a simple yet powerful idea: Everyone is entitled to feel precious and beloved.

Behind the more than 120 chromogenic color photographs developed personally by the artist are 70,000 frames and more than 200,000 kilometers of driving to stunningly beautiful locations in Finland -  woods and fields blanketed with snow, smouldering forest fire sites, a still lake in a summer's night -  places to make one see the world around us differently.

The Method of Empowering photography, borne out the project, has been used in Finland in therapy, education and workplace development since the year 2000. This award-winning social innovation developed by Savolainen elevates the exchange of a gaze into a tool for dialogic interaction and workplace improvement. The method reverses the balance of power between the photographer and the subject by creating a process of dialogue and transforming the photograph into an instrument of self-discovery.

Miina Savolainen is a community-art photographer from Helsinki whose works deal with social engagement. She has educated more than 3,000 professionals in Finland to apply the method of empowering photography in social work, health care and education. The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE is producing TV-serial about empowering photography as a means of improving interaction skills between family members. The innovative television program is coming out on spring 2014.

"The 120 photos in 'The Loveliest Girl in the World' depict not just the grandeur of the Finnish wilderness and the subjects fairy-tale scenarios. They also show the process of gaining trust and confidence.  The photographs represent the appeal of a modern fairy-tale moral: that people can take real strength from their invented selves." - WASHINGTON POST

"These images are so extraordinary. Reflective, beautiful, prophetic. I see the tones of pain, courage and hope reflected in some of the most profound images I have seen. The essence of each lovely girl seeps through the photograph. I am moved by the relationship between the photographer and each girl. The physical settings are imaginative and speak of another world. " - Lindsay Branham, WASHINGTON D.C.

More about the exhibit and the artist: www.empoweringphotography.net