Interviews
I began using fabric within my fine art practice in 2015. However, I have been immersed in textiles my whole life, and my mother is undoubtedly the main inspirational force behind this incredible experience. Our house was always full of fabrics: curtains, mattresses, sheets, and many of my mother’s Chador Namazes (prayer veils). As children, my brother and I often made a big tent in our bedroom out of my mother’s chador that almost occupied the entire room. I was excited to experience a different space between the wrinkles of the fabric, as if entering another world. What surreal joy to lie down on the carpets and stare at the floral chador ceiling.
READWeaving Connections in the Flow: A Conversation With Leila Seyedzadeh
On feminine approaches to collage making with fabrics and the influence of Negārgari, ancient paintings in Iran.
Sonia Boyce is a pioneer of the British Black Art movement. Her practice stems from the visual arts but has grown in so many directions that categorizing her work into any single art form feels oversimplifying. Then again, that is partly the nature of Black Art: the need and ability to be multiple things and escape definition simultaneously. Sonia and I are from different generations; we work with distinct art forms in different contexts and very different parts of Europe. Despite these differences, we almost immediately find a common language. In our discussion, we define it as the language of blackness. Working as a black man in northern Finland, it is a rare opportunity to have a tête-a-tête with my elders. It can even be hard to recognize my elders. Sonia called it systemic amnesia, how our environments erase our lineages and make us think we are alone.
READDreaming Utopias Into Existence: A Conversation With Sonia Boyce
On the simultaneous decentralizing and contextualising of the self, and lightening the burden of representation.
Sympathetic resonance in music is the reactionary sonar vibration in an object caused by the vibrations of a different object: It is like the awakening of a note in something that is not actively made to sound. When I see the newest paintings by Aishe Vejdani, this is what I feel. The visual resonance sounds a similar chord in my retina, and I feel emotional waves ripple through me.I am intrigued by how the paintings look, both ancient and new. These works reference Aishe’s ancestral past, including the hardship of her forefathers.
READFrom Memory to Memorial: A Conversation With Aishe Vejdani
Anna Ruth interviews Iranian artist, Aishe Vejdani, on how literature, history, music, and social dissonance influence her artwork.
Today most Dalits are first or second-generation learners who are still trying to assert their existence and improve their societal position. In doing so, they prioritise safety and financial security and often enter fields tried and tested by their parents or other Dalit community members – they do not have the privilege of “choosing” versatile careers like art or filmmaking. Moreover, there is limited access and almost no exposure to the process of entering these industries. Even though Art is a storytelling medium that can bring about change, it is arduous and challenging for Dalit Bahujan filmmakers to publish their stories in a gate-kept caste society. Telling a story itself is the Art that propels change. Still, the question remains, how to break through the caste-based gatekeeping and works towards building a Dalit and Bahujan discourse of filmmaking and documenting?
READStories of Resistance: A Conversation With Filmmakers Omey Anand and Jyoti Nisha
How to break through the caste-based gatekeeping and work towards building a Dalit and Bahujan discourse of filmmaking and documenting?
The following interview is an intimate and vulnerable dialogue between distant friends: Naomi Joshi and Vivetha Thambinathan, back in 2020. When we finally spoke, to my surprise, an organic friendship was born as words were exchanged, from similarities and differences in our experiences to statements of solidarity, acknowledgements of pain, and an unwavering fight for healing and care. Vivetha opened her heart to me, and I feel grateful to share her unbelievably eloquent voice.
READOn (the lack of) Diversity in Academia: A Conversation With Vivetha Thambinathan
Naomi Shefali Joshi holds an intimate dialogue on the necessity of creating radical spaces for amplifying a plurality of voices that focus on counter-hegemonic perspectives in academia.
A significant decision in my career was to abandon gallery-based work and pursue my own interests. I began creating pieces independently without telling anyone when I was supposed to complete them or where they would end up. I found creative ways of showing the works; I performed in public spaces or at different events, often filmed those and uploaded them online. I also started to tell other people’s stories, so the video was an excellent format for that, and it started almost accidentally. This was a tremendous professional change for me, and I have continued working that way more or less until now.
READAccessibility Is Not Static: A Conversation With Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen
Iisa Lepistö’s interview with artist/activist Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen regarding politics of care, disability, and the aesthetics of assisting devices.
One has to be respectful towards someone willing to tell their story and not impose one’s own opinions and views when someone’s ready to open up their wounds. Respect for the human, the situation and the story is everything. This is common sense.
READWorry and Play: A Conversation With Kristiina ‘Tikke’ Tuura
On storytelling, community engagement, and using a playful approach to express sociopolitical concerns.
The images are familiar, quotidian and easily accessible. They do not say that there is violence in the background. Only the exhibition text reveals it. I think those pieces without text would be the most useless and boring. Wouldn’t it be the most boring thing to copy your childhood images while painting? A lovely picture is not enough for me.
READOne Last Exhibition: A Conversation With Sanni Seppä
But then I stop and think: Am I just going towards this boring kind of “business”? Is it a trap? There’s so much liberty at the moment. That’s something I appreciate. But how do I continue? I haven’t solved that yet, but I’d love to. In a way, it’s fine if it’s not me who runs it, it could even change its name from TTB to something else. Whatever! I just want there to be a space for specific books. And space to make new events and continue experimenting with books – around what they are and what they can be.
READThe Book as an Art Practice: A Conversation With Hikari Nishida
On the non-profit artistic practice of selling self-published and independent publishers’ books.
All small things matter because they evaluate our thinking, and trivial things can be seen as passages to bigger ones. Art can easily be seen as an ineffective way of changing the world, but I think there is this common memory, or heritage, in art, which acts like roots. Art comes from lived life, from the things we have seen, felt, heard, or explored.
READPaintings About Decaying and Growth: A Conversation With Sirkku Rosi
On weaving utopia and dystopia together and exploring hope and hopelessness through watercolor painting.
I don’t expect the viewer to take in everything in the painting at one glance. There are many possible storylines, and you can also read the painting in different directions. It’s not necessary to proceed in a linear fashion—you can go back at any time.
READPlayful Personification of Death: A Conversation With Melina Paakkonen
On visual storytelling, symbolism, and the whimsical representations of death.
Like a well-functioning infrastructure, producing is an invisible labour of care, resourcefulness, and passion for the project at hand. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes, and often the producer is the last to be acknowledged. Few people in the cultural sector are as industrious yet deeply affectionate as Lisa Kalkowski. Lisa is one of the few people whose interest in the projects she’s producing is as important as the project’s ethics. She has a penchant for learning languages, is a dance enthusiast, a problem solver, and a stress-diffuser.
READOn Working With Friction and Confrontation: Conversation With Lisa Kalkowski
Lisa Kalkowski shares her objectives and challenges of working as a producer in the field of art in Helsinki.