Press photographer Bror Brandts photographs show life in Karjaa in the 1950s and 1960s
Our Karjaa photo exhibition opens at the Raseborg Photo Centre in Karjaa on April 24, 2026. In additon to photographing local news events, press photographer Bror Brandt (1914–1978) also took pictures of the work and life of the people. The photographs of the exhibition are from the Press Photo Archive JOKAs collection of the newspaper Västra Nyland, donated to museum collections in 2021. The exhibition is open till the end of May.
The exhibited photographs show life in Karjaa 1947-1963. Karjaa is depicted as a railway junction. Steam locomotives stop at Karjaa railway station, taking passengers to Hyvinkää, Hanko, Helsinki or Turku. Men work hard at a roof tile factory; women connect landline phone calls by hand and young people listen to vinyl records in a record bar. Newspaper photographs have captured moments in the past and at the same time an entire era.
All the images in the exhibition are news photographs from the 1950s and 1960s by Bror Brandt of the Västra Nyland newspaper, except for the photo of the Karjaa railway station sign from 1947. We no longer know who took it.
Bror Brandt was self-taught. At the age of 12 he began his career as a paper boy for Hufvudstadsbladet (HBL) and Svenska Pressen in Helsinki. In 1949 Brandt was hired as a photoengraver and photographer for Ekenäs Tryckeri Ab and the Västra Nyland newspaper. Brandt became the newspaper’s first photographer with a permanent contract. He roamed around Tammisaari, Hankoo, Karjaa, Pohja, Inkoo and Kirkkonummi with his camera and his glass negatives. He retired 28 years later in 1977.
The exhibition also features puppet theatre artist Aapo Repo’s interactive camera obscura.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Finnish Heritage Agency’s Press Photo Archive JOKA and the Raseborg Photo Centre.
The Press Photo Archive JOKA has digitized over 3,000 old photographs of the newspaper Västra Nyland with the support of Amos Anderson Fund. The images are available via the cultural heritage service Finna.
Our Karjaa photo exhibition is one of the events celebrating Karjaa’s 700th anniversary. It is on view at the Raseborg Photo Centre in Karjaa from 24 April to 30 May 2026.
Admission fee.
The Raseborg Photo Centre (Fotocentrum Raseborg)
Karjaa’s 700th anniversary events
Contact:
Raija Linna, curator, the Picture Collections of the Finnish Heritage Agency, raija.linna@museovirasto.fi, tel. +358 40 1286124
Tanja Is-Selin, the Raseborg Photo Centre, fotocentrum@fotocentrum.fi, tel. 044 7487 527