In her works, Sanna Kannisto explores the intersection between nature, science, and art. Her photographs investigate different methods, approaches, and theories of human interaction with our natural environment. During numerous stays in Peru, Guiana, and Brazil, along with her recent work in Finland, she became a visual researcher, borrowing methodologies from the natural sciences, anthropological practices, and still-life painting traditions. As part of her artistic process, she stages portable "field studios” to photograph birds. By removing the subject from its original natural context, the viewer’s attention is directed towards its specific characteristics and movements.

While her work is significantly influenced by the quasi-scientific methods of conceptual art, it offers a poetic perspective on natural phenomena, with a particular emphasis on the sculptural quality of a bird in motion. There is striking tension between the liberated motion of the birds and the fixed nature of the photograph in which they are enclosed. Kannisto's distinctive approach—balancing controlled photographic parameters with intimate interactions with her subjects—enables her to capture the magic of the unpredictable. "Being with a bird is utterly unique, it’s moving," states the artist. "I look at the bird and it looks at me. For a moment we have some kind of shared thought. It’s kind of a mutual examination.”

Sanna Kannisto (*1974 in Hämeenlinna, Finland) graduated from the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2002. She has held solo exhibitions in several international venues and attended numerous group exhibitions in institutions such as The Museum of Photography Seoul (South Korea, 2018), Metronom Gallery (Modena, 2017) and Ateneum Art Museum (Helsinki, 2017).