ABOUT

AQUA POLLUTION

Makers' Gallery – Vaasa, Finland

12. – 28.8.2021

www.makersgallery.fi

In my Aqua Pollution -series, I am thinking about the threat of pollution of our clean natural waters. For several years now, I have been actively involved in activism against the Hannukainen mining plan in Kolari, among others, and together with the locals, I founded a contemporary art project called Art Äkäslompolo, which brings community and environmental art to the area. Many years the village community, along with a large crowd of tourists and local cottagers, has opposed a mining plan that one would logically think could be stopped by a large crowd. However, the opposite has happened. Despite the clear consequences, which have a detrimental effect on the particularly sensitive nature of Lapland, the mining plan has always been approved by, among other things, municipal decision-makers.

In addition to forests and the animals that live in them, the waste from the largest mine in the Nordic countries will destroy water bodies. One of the biggest concerns is the pollution of the Tornio-Muonio River. The mines already in the area are already suspected of releasing their toxins into the water, as fish deaths and strange mutations in the salmon stocks in that river have already been noticed.

In my artistic works, I also want to take a more general stand on the cleanliness of our water bodies. There are an incomprehensible number of mining occupations in Finland. Almost all sites pose a serious threat to water pollution. Finland is one of the cleanest countries in the world, both in terms of nature and water. Nature is our real gold treasure – not the gold that is mined from the earth's crust. At the heart of all my artistic work are my Finnish roots, which date back to ancient times. I also try to make it visible in my works, which are always a kind of tribute to Finnish nature.

I mainly use ecological and organic materials in my works. My paint bases are often recycled fabrics and my paint colors are mostly found in kitchen cabinets or they are non-toxic earth tones.