The Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted the grim reality of injustice and discrimination and has triggered public debates all over the world.
However, racist abuse of power is not something that only happens beyond our own borders. There is direct and indirect racism right here in Finland too. The Finnish Museum of Photography must be willing to review its own practices.
The history of the arts is full of white dominance. It is our responsibility to examine this historical context with fresh eyes and to be an active part of change.
Equality is an important value at the Finnish Museum of Photography. We are glad that we are being challenged to learn and to thoroughly evaluate our own processes. It is not enough to ensure that our operations are anti-racist. In this unequal world, we need to take decisive action against racism. We want to do our best to make anti-racist action a permanent part of the way this museum operates. We know that this work will never be complete, which is why we are looking for long-term solutions and dedicated ways in which to improve our operations.
This year, we plan to declare our organization and work community a discrimination-free zone in accordance with measures cited on the Ministry of Justice's website equality.fi (yhdenvertaisuus.fi). We are also anxious to see the questions included in the program Call for action to art institutions in Finland so that we can start to analyze and develop our processes. In the future, we will ensure clear communication of all our activities in order to identify and prevent the implementation of discriminating structures.
