Ennen muita musta lintu / A black bird before the others
Solo exhibition. Gallery Huuto, Helsinki, FIN.
November 2024.
Within the city, an invisible line has been drawn, a thin veil between urban and wild. It is where the dandelion roots grow through the asphalt and pests inhabit our pantries. Beneath the rigid structures, untamed life bubbles.
Urban birds are the inhabitants of this liminal space. To interact with them is to walk on a porous border, to enter the space in-between realms.
Old stories tell us that the dead visit us in the guise of birds. Feeding them is a way of connecting with those who have lived before us, a way of reaching back towards a time that curves backwards.
In September 2023, I started feeding the local crows on my way to work. Offering them seeds was my way of getting closer to life seeping in through the cracks of the city. The birds circling around me were a reminder that the wildness I was looking for was never far away, just buried under the rhythms of everyday life.
A black bird before the others* explores the disconnection from the living environment caused by urban living, and the need to restore the connection with it. The exhibition consists of a series of anthotypes (an old photographic technique based on plant dyes and sunlight exposure), raku ceramics and text.
*Translated from the poem Variksen laulu. Alava, Vihtori (collector of the poem), 1894. Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot V1 1138. Keltto, East and North Inkeri.
Installation view from the exhibition.
Maankuhisijat / Earth dwellers
Anthotype on blue pea and red onion, oak frames. 1/1, 2024.
Lepakkolintu / Bat bird
Anthotype on yellow foot fungi and common reed, oak frames. 1/1, 2024.
Installation view from the exhibition.
Ääreläinen / Borderling
Glazed raku ceramics, 2024
Lemmon lintu / The bird of Lempo
Anthotype on black beans, oak frames. 1/1, 2024.
Maan töitä, tuulen töitä / Earth work, wind work
Anthotype on yellow onion and red cabbage, oak frames. 1/1, 2024.
Maa-ilmalainen / Land-airling
Glazed raku ceramics, 2024.
Kesähorros / Summer hibernation
Anthotype on red and yellow onion, oak frames. 1/1, 2024.
Talven uni / Winter’s dream
Anthotype on alder and red cabbage, oak frames. 1/1, 2024.
Maahaamu / Ghost of land
Glazed raku ceramics, 2024.
Näkymätöntä väkeä / Invisible folk
Anthotype on black beans and red onion, oak frames. 1/1, 2024.
Jakoaika / In-between time
Anthotype on common reed and red onion, oak frames. 1/1, 2024.
Lintukotolaiset /
Anthotype on red onion and chokeberry, oak frames. 1/1, 2024.
Antura I / Claw I
Glazed raku ceramics, 2024.
The exhibition was supported by Kone Foundation.