Works from left to right: The condescending judge who deems me as a failure, The poor thing capable of nothing but complaining, The one who knows I鈥檓 an impostor, The needy little shit who keeps flipping out for nothing & The sarcastic wise-ass who loves resorting to hindsight
The work is a series of sculptures, that give a physical form to a variety of pessimistic inner voices stemming from deep within the subconscious. The beings feed on the feelings of fear, insecurity, frustration, self-doubt and uncertainty. They speak through their synthesized voices, craving for attention and validation, constantly reminding of their existence.
Vessels for the voices of subconscious was born as a result of a deeply introspective process of making. While working with physical materials in a highly intuitive manner, I was constantly observing what kinds of negative feelings and emotions were present, and how they affected my creative process. The feelings seemed to come and go away as they pleased, like some kind of beings with minds of their own, some visiting me more often than others. This idea led me into portraying the abstract and intangible feelings as sort of living creatures, my very own lifelong personal companions and inner parasites.
Materials: Stoneware, earthenware, porcelain
Photos and video: Johannes Kaarakainen
This work was a means to make sense of my own lived experience with a dissociative disorder. Along the way I found out that wholes are not necessarily ones, and that more important than unified fronts are the dialogues in-betweens. Sense of connection creates a sense of common ground, a safe space for change and growth.
The end result is 鈥渙ne鈥 sculpture made of numerous separate parts, coming together to form a whole, held together by their connect.
This work explores the moment of change. What happens when something comes to a point of its life cycle, where it ceases to be what it was? At that moment, old structures get dismantled and its substance splits into a countless number of particles. These particles then travel where they are taken to, and become a part of something else.
The hand-sewed surfaces explore the connection between making, crafts and creativity. Focusing on simple crafts can offer calmness, a way to be
grounded and present through repetitive work led by intuition and freedom. The outcome is a dialogue between the fragile, subtle material and the working hands.
