Risako Yamanoi, Places, 2021, watercolor, gouache, colored pencils, and graphite on paper
Risako Yamanoi is a visual artist based in Helsinki. She has completed her master’s degree at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki. Her work explores personal feelings and memories which remain unseen and marginal in everyday life.
To create the work, I thought about the choices I made, and about how those choices affected my identity. Then I started thinking that the things I did not choose or I have not got yet could be equally important as the choices I made. Perhaps what makes me who I am is not only the things I have now but also the things I have lost or I long for. It feels somehow natural to me to think that way.
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READI find the topic of artist residencies and friendships very personal and relevant for me as an artist. At any residence, time always seems to run out and eventually, people leave for different roads. The image hints at moments where activities have been interrupted: food is on the table, sketches and supplies are wide open, and the outdoor space flows into the interior.
Five timeframes, countless companionships
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READWhat if nothing doesn’t actually ever get ruined? Or at least not that bad. Maybe it just finished completely different than you thought.
Mitäpä jos (What if)
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READA specimen-style diagram on flower assemblage in preparation for ‘rooting’ delves into the topics of how to re-assemble oneself to set roots somewhere. Do we change ourselves and re-assemble our features to be allowed to remain in the garden, or do we tend a small corner in a garden of our own? Often ‘belonging’ is a concept that exists within change. We can belong to many contradictory concepts, not necessarily following a specific blueprint.
Assembly Plant, 2022
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READThe Finding of Hän is an original puppet theater production that explores the inherent duality of human nature and imagines the lifespan of an ancient object. Themes and characters are drawn from coastal cultures and stories from around the world.
The Finding of Hän