Did you know? An article I've written is featured in "Arts in Migration," a publication associated with the Migration Institute of Finland!
The article is a perspective piece, centring my multidisciplinary arts practice and current project, "Minä puhun suomea | I speak Finnish." This project aims to uncover my Finnish roots–the adaptation, expression, symbolic meaning and my dis/re/connection to the Finnish language.
I am a fifth generation Finnish-Canadian. Growing up here, amongst the largest Finnish populated region outside of the Nordics, I understood the Finnish language, but I did not speak it. As time goes on my family speaks Finnish less. I feel representative of my generation, to witness and capture through art, these shifting moments.
Creating Slow Art for me, acts as a way to centre and strengthen relationship — with the natural world, with my body, and the themes that guide my work. Using my hands, I aim to preserve and reflect on what I know, and explore and discover what I do not (and all the complexities in between). Intuition and emotion are my guide. This project offers an opportunity for me to experience a deeper connection to and understanding of my relationship with the Finnish language.
Read more on pages 38-41 of Migration Muuttoliike, volume 49 Nro 1, with an introduction by Samira Saramo on page 34-35.
https://siirtolaisuus-migration.journal.fi/issue/view/9370/1910
The creation of this new body of work has been made possible thanks to funding from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.