Thoughts in process: June 2012

Louhitalo

Heintie 16

81200 Eno

Mon–sun 12–17

tel. +3584578450340

louhitalo@gmail.com

www.louhitalo.fi

ANNA PUHAKKA

From Karelia Now and Before

Photographs and sound installation

1.–31.7.2012

Exhibition opening Saturday, April 30th 2012, 2 pm – 4 pm

The questions Who am I? and Where do I come from? are the main themes in Anna Puhakka's exhibition From Karelia Now and Before. In this exhibition Puhakka is exploring her relationship with and obsession towards her ancestors’ homeland Karelia. As a cosmopolitan artist, who has lived over half her life abroad, Puhakka returns to her ancestral roots through her art; to the world where she learned to swim, to know the secrets of the forest and to believe in the power of spells, words and nature.

Through the exhibition Puhakka recreates her prehistory, treating her existential crisis as a person who has never properly belonged anywhere. In her work Puhakka becomes a high-priestess who controls the Birth Words of souls, grows a forest and speaks with the voices of the ancients. By combining traditional Karelian folklore and moulding it into a new imaginary world, Puhakka whispers in and answers to the wind with the questions: Who am I? Where do I come from?

The From Karelia Now and Before exhibition is part of a larger research project Yes, I know your Birth, where Puhakka researches ancient Karelian folklore and creates varied ways to explore its existence in today’s society through rituals, stories, music and customs; bringing it to the present day through the use of media art.

Part of the exhibition consists of a collaborative artwork made with local residents. In this project the participants interpret what being a modern Karelian means to them through writing and photography. Project collaborators are the Eno School class 7A and the residents of the Kotiranta retirement home. The project has been led by Anna Puhakka and Eva-Liisa Orupöld.

Puhakka (b.1983, Tampere) has lived in Finland, the United States, Australia, France and England. She graduated from Sunderland University in 2007 and has been an internationally practicing artist ever since. Puhakka is also the curator and editor-in-chief of the monthly creative art magazine, HESA inprint. Currently Puhakka lives and works in Helsinki.

Anna would like to thank the Äänellä Itkijät association for all their support.

Anna Puhakka

+358 (0) 40 542 9934

puhakka.anna@gmail.com

www.annapuhakka.com

http://believeinprocess.blogspot.com

www.hesainprint.com

WON'T CARRY ALONE FOR FUN

Instructors: Anna Puhakka and Eva-Liisa Orupõld

Participants: Eno school class 7A and Kotiranta retirement home

Won't Carry Alone for Fun is a collaborative artwork that is part of the exhibition From Karelia Now and Before being held at Louhitalo in July 2012. The purpose of the project was to create an artwork where, through the use of text and photography, the locals could explore identity, the meaning of objects and what it is to be a modern Karelian. During the project the participants were asked to complete a task where they chose objects that are important to them and described them creatively.

The participants then brought their objects and texts along to a one-day workshop held in Eno on the 24^th of May 2012. During the workshops the objects were exchanged, then in groups the participants thought of possible connections the objects had to each other; stories were told. Then the participants shared their memories of the objects and chose a word that could connect them, something which described their similarities.

After this their chosen connector-words were visually interpreted by photographing both the objects and participants. The content of the work Won't Carry Alone for Fun has been compiled from the photographs and texts made by the participants. During the workshop the participants learned to work with people of different ages and got to know each other.

The hanging and compiling of the artwork was done by the workshop leaders Eva-Liisa Orupöld and Anna Puhakka.

The artwork and exhibition opening takes place on Saturday the 30th of June from 2 pm to 4 pm at Louhitalo, Heintie 16, 81200 Eno, Louhioja.

The exhibition is open 1.-31.7.2012 , from Monday to Sunday between 12 pm and 5 pm.

Contact details for the workshop leaders: