Events of 2021
Summer Adventure
A moment with dance and music for the whole family. This performance combines high quality children’s music, dance an the beautiful sounds of the accordion. The performance is colourful, fast paced and happy. It has been inspired by Finnish folk music and ’80s children’s television shows.
Marja Kolu
Warmth , humor and strength emanate from the art of Marja Kolu, yet a contemplative melancholic mood prevails in them , too. Kolu has used any of patinated waste material for her works, though she would never use old things merely for the sake oldness. Material has become a new channel for expression. Out of the material Kolu gathers she composes sculptures, mixing them with readymade objects from her palette of things. In general, the works are almost minimalistic spatial installations, more concerned with creating moods than a visually aesthetic impression. The first feeling aroused are a shattering nostalgy and a philosophical melancholy in the face of the ultimate questions. Kolu has been building her installations from found objects from flea markets and junkyards for over 30 years. (Art historian Pekka Vähäkangas)
She has studied at Academy of fine art in St Petersburg and she emphasizes the quality of Russian reverence, a relationship with life that is disappearing from prosperous standardized Finland. She admires the imaginative ability of the Russians to make use of very little to good effect and their freehand method of working which shows a great deal of human sensitivity This sensitivity , which s not without its comic sides , has given her both subjects and working methods for her own work. Marja Kolu´s art outlines and balances Finland´s unique identity which straddles East and West. (Hannu Castén, arthistorian)
Katriina Haikala
“Lupta Femeilor – Women’s Fight” is a project that originated from the wish of the Roma women who have migrated to Finland from Romania. The starting point for artistic cooperation was to build a multidimensional image of Roma women, who are often subjected to prejudice, racism and xenophobia, together with women. Roma women stand out of the crowd which makes them vulnerable and easy targets of public hatred. Romanian Roma women face discrimination, inequality and extreme poverty both in their home country and in Finland. That’s why for example begging has become a way of survival.
My way of working with a 7-person group of women was inclusive and guided by women’s own hopes, needs and skills. During the first workshop it became clear that the women want to tell their stories and become seen in a new light in Finnish society. In respect of this wish I facilitated the process and created short documentary (10 minutes) and series of portraits. The women photographed their everyday life for a week and these photographs will be seen in the upcoming exhibitions as well.
The name of the project, “Lupta Femeilor”, which is Romanian and stands for women’s struggle, was born as a result of women’s own ideation process. We listened to the stories of women about having to sacrifice for the sake of children, to build a better life for the next generation, the discrimination experienced at home, the subordinate position of women in Roma culture and the violence perceived in everyday life. The process has been based on facilitation and art-based methods.
Patruunagalleria
Watercolor, oil and metallic leafing paintings on acrylic
I have been looking at and painting the landscape and the animals that belong to it for many years. Sometimes with a little perspective, but always revolving around the same topic. I have a deep love for nature. It is ancient and at the same time constantly changing. It is familiar but at the same time foreign and diverse.
Perhaps that is why the landscape rarely appears very realistic in my paintings, but rather as a feeling, movement, vibration or even as an abstract stage for my animals, which are often cloaked in my contemporary paintings. Present but at the same time unreachable. The more familiar the landscape and its animals become to me, the more mysterious they become, the more I respect them, the more interesting they are, and the more concern I also have, that is the part of love.
This is probably what my art is all about – I’m trying to catch the frenzy of the moment, diversity and movement of the changing landscape, or even more accurately, the experience behind the painted image, which is difficult to both tell and reach.
Elina Kujansuu