Finnish photographer Juha Metso’s exhibition “Voodoo – Afrikan arkea” (“Voodoo – Everyday Life in Africa” or “Glimpses of Everyday Life in Africa”) opened this week, and some of the exhibited photos were available for public already through Helsingin Sanomat’s web article earlier in September. The photographs represent powerful images of Vodun practices in Benin. The aesthetic and dramatic features of the situations are emphasized – through the use of black and white images, capturing sudden groans and strange movements of … Lue lisää
Memory
Memory, the exhibition of Anna Retulainen in Helsinki Contemporary 5.9.-28.9.2014.
The texts are from pages of Helsinki Contemporary helsinkicontemporary.com
Memory consists of a series of paintings and drawings that examines memory and remembering. The exhibition builds upon the experiences of two journeys Retulainen made to Africa in 2013. The first one started at Villa Karo in Grand Popo on the coast of Benin and took her to the savannas in the northern parts of the country. The second trip, … Lue lisää
A Log of Scots Pine in Beninese Hands
Miikka Pörsti reports from Ilomantsi:
“I hear it’s louder here now than during the Winter war”, said member of the jury and outsider artist Eero Pulkki as the Bear sculpting championships had just begun in the keskusta of Ilomantsi, 10am this morning. Many of the 32 competitors are using chainsaws. However, some of them, like Beninese competitor Florent Nagoba, scholarship holder for VK and the Union for Rural Education and Culture, work with their handmade custom tools.… Lue lisää
Natural Mathematics and the Number 24
ILOMANTSI. Several gunshots have been fired in the forests surrounding Ilomantsi during the last 24 hours and at least seven casualties have been reported. One more soul is destined to leave behind its earthly vessel before ceasefire. Probably by dusk, the blood of one more will have been spilled into the rich soil of North-Karelia – and Ilomantsi’s killing quota filled.
It is the never-ending struggle between man and bear taking place once again, as it does every autumn in … Lue lisää

