Haava (Wound)

Review of the Artist Cooperative Toolbox’s Haava Exhibition

(Note: You can click the images to zoom them.)

The exhibition series that began in Suomenlinna by the artist cooperative Toolbox has made its way to the mainland, taking over both Gallery Yö on Lönnrotinkatu and Forum Box on Ruoholahdenranta. In the latter, you encounter the collective scars materialized by sculptor Maija Helasvuo.

The themes of the exhibitions—bruise, wound, and scar—are vivid and raw, almost bleeding, leaving one to wonder if the soul’s pus will ever cease to flow beneath the scarred surface.

As I step into Gallery Yö, I am met with the clay-like faces of presumed terrorists staring back at me. The wall resembles a FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugutives list. They look just like the men I encountered on the train! What kind of images does the average person sketch behind certain faces? The roots of eugenics are as deeply embedded as dandelions in a garden.

It’s a relief that no outsider can truly see into another’s innermost self. Perhaps such attempts were made when those condemned were torn apart?

Have you ever frozen in front of mountains of suitcases at a concentration camp? There is something stale and threatening in those worn, wartime cardboard figures, even though they were gutted long ago. You can’t escape them in modern times either, although Said Baalbaki’s suitcases are pink as if poisoned by carbon monoxide. This time they came from Syria, not just in the last decade.

Though the media brings global horror to our eyes around the clock, even it does not see everything. This is reminded by Ilkka Sariola’s ”Ade – Debt List.” No one knows how many victims lie buried alive somewhere and if they will ever be found.

These themes resonate personally because the artist in me was amputated as a child, and only later did I begin my journey among my true tribe. This includes the deceased Masters, among whom Kalervo Palsa must be mentioned. He is powerfully present here in Yö. One of the artists, Juha Sääski, is Kalle’s fellow student, and I recognize Palsa-like thanatotic themes in his work.

Society falsely prepares us for uninterrupted joy and youth in this life, while cruelly hiding the endpoint where our path leads. Too many find themselves on the brink of death, as unprepared as a child shoved into the camp’s shower room. Despite the entire human race always living at death’s door, unaware of when the doorman will let them in.

Nevertheless, life must be lived, as encouraged by Peter Hock’s striking charcoal works Hub, Slot, and Cryll. Someone said they saw the stages of an act in them. Which act, you can see for yourself at Lönnrotinkatu 33, Helsinki.

Come and see! The exhibition is open until August 18.

 

 

Written by: Carita Hännikäinen