@ Galleria Ars Libera 1.-30.4.2021 Kuopio
The ice is melting. I follow the arrival of migratory birds. A beloved forest near the summer cottage is harvested and the land is left with deep scars. My world is changing. I wander in the woods, trying to remind myself to actually look around and listen. To breathe. I try to remember what I see and experience. Leaves are falling. I wonder what makes me happy and I try to feel the soil under my feet, the one I share with everything.
The Current States exhibition series springs from the changing and flowing nature of our time where the present seems to be increasingly difficult for many to reach. The name of the exhibition refers in particular to water in its various forms as liquid, ice and gas. It also makes me think about currency flows and some seemingly unshakable things or attitudes now in the midst of these overlapping crises. For me the name is also a reference to place, my own and ours as a species. That which we are a part of. Where I am right now (not in an hour or tomorrow or next year) seems to be extremely important to pay attention to. Tomorrow’s decisions are made now.
The Current States exhibition series has been substantially shaped by the quarantine and the loneliness I’ve experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, my already close relationship with forests, lakes and nature in general has strengthened. In particular, I’ve been inspired by the time that I spent at my family’s summer cottage by the lakeside in Lokalahti in Southwestern Finland. A year ago I spent 10 consecutive weeks in quarantine alone pondering the themes of this exhibition and I have since returned to that familiar landscape, whenever possible, to observe, to breathe and to seek directions while the seasons keep changing.
The Current States II exhibition is a continuation of the first part of the series (Current States I, 2020) which focused specifically on the liquid state of water. One of the main themes of this second part is ice. That hard surface of winter between air and liquid. I am interested in the crystal structure of ice, the processes of freezing, melting and thawing – the ongoing change. The main work of the exhibition, Center of Our Universe (2019), asks which things are really important for life. The work wants to remind us of the importance of water and especially of the unstable balance of the planet’s water system as the polar glaciers melt at an ever-accelerating rate. The clock is ticking. The movement of the sun draws changing shadows on the painted glass. The birch that was still alive during Current States I is now dead and the leaves have fallen. The water at its roots is gone. The angler of luck is fishing with a coin from 1999 in hope of a brighter future, but the decay is underway with the larvae leaving their mark. Nothing Lasts Forever, composed of lake reeds collected in the summer of 2020, changes color as the leaf green decomposes under the influence of light. The dried birches hanging from the ceiling cling to their leaves thirsty. In some way, they are all related.
We are a part of this place. Not visitors.
That’s a huge difference.
For me this exhibition is about change. I’ve noticed that I want to work in a multidisciplinary way without limiting myself to a particular technology or material beforehand. This is also reflected in the works in the exhibition that have emerged as a result of this process. This process also allows for coincidences to happen. I am interested in the small and mundane things around me. I practice noticing changes in my environment and I try communicating these experiences to others through my works. Making a work of art is also a way for myself to understand what I am experiencing. As the world changes, so do I. I try to face life around me gently even if it is difficult at times. Besides change, the works exhibited here also touch on themes such as death, entropy, peace of mind, neoliberalism, visual perception, and time.
The third and last part of the exhibition series, Current States III focuses on gas. It will be exhibited in October 2022 at the HAA Gallery of the Helsinki Artists’ Association in Suomenlinna.
Helsinki March 16, 2021