On the Northern Seas textile art exhibition in Pilke Science Centre from 5th December 2024
to 5th of January 2025. Free entrancy.
Overwhelming mass, power and unimaginable enormity. The sea is present in many current discussions. The sea combines several themes: nature and its figurative language, humanity and connections between countries, historical layers and geopolitics. In the seas themselves, in the worlds at the bottom of them, there is much unknown to us, which the imagination tries to complete. On the other hand, as a result of human activity, the seas are filled with everyday waste.
The artist Sannu Vaarala tells about the exhibition:
“I started to study the sea theme in winter 2020 in Kemi when in the Historical Museum I saw a beautiful wooden compass with the name Julia engraved on it. Compass twined together modern design language and history. The directions given by the compass also tell about finding the way and feeling lost, which are familiar even to modern people. In the same year, at the top of Ounasvaara, I looked at the ancient beach opening in the middle of the forest. The round pale beach stones made me think about the ancient beaches in the future and the layer we leave on them. In the exhibition a textile art piece Ancient Beach is allowed to touch and explore. I returned to the northern seas in 2023. The form language of the textile installation Power of the Sea got its inspiration from the northern shore, where fascinating seaweed had washed up. It also got some forms from human synapses. I further explore the shapes and imagination of the sea in a series of miniature textile sculptures, in the materials of which I have used recycled textiles such as cotton and details cut from packaging plastic.”
Documentary movie event of the Northern Seas
The exhibition is part of an event organized by the Rovaniemi-based Pohjanvalo working group, the Finnish Lighthouse Society and Science Center Pilke. 10.12.2024 The Finnish Lighthouse Society’s autumn tour brings the documentary Utö – 300 stormy years to Pilke.
The artist: Sannu Vaarala
Sannu Vaarala is a northern textile artist working in Rovaniemi and Kittilä. In her works, she
is interested in urban space as well as meanings, phenomena and temporal layers of the
environment. Vaarala creates her textile reliefs by applying sewing and dyeing techniques.
Exploring the possibilities of recycled textiles is one of the main themes of her work. Her
educational background is a master’s degree in social sciences, which is reflected in the
topics of the works and how she addresses the themes. As an artist Vaarala has been
active. She has had solo exhibitions and attended group exhibitions and events around
Finland. Vaarala makes urban art with dance artist Elina Tähtelä, Moving Blooming Walls
project started at Oulu summer 2024.
Instagram: @sannu_vaarala
sannuvaarala@gmail.com
sannuvaarala.wordpress.com
http://www.lapintaiteilijaseura.fi/artists/sannu-vaarala