It was always summer in
Grandma's garden
Exhibiton at Gallery Huuto 15.8-8.9.2024
Panimokatu 1, 00580 Helsinki
Huuto IV
My Grandmother had a large garden. To me, this garden represented my grandmother, it was like her self-portrait: an embracing and evergreen paradise.
As a child, the summers at Grandma’s felt endless. I remember the garden of my childhood vividly— its scent, the flowers swaying in the wind, the grass beneath my feet and the feeling of sunlight on my skin—but when I try to grasp these memories, to examine and transfer them onto paper, they slip away, elusive and intangible. I can no longer return to the garden; time has passed, and even grandmother exists now only in my memories.
It was always summer in Grandma's garden is a series of works created using various mediums, through which I aim to recreate my grandmother’s garden based on my faltering childhood memories. I explore layers of time, grief and loss, as well as the dialogue between generations through nature, where moments colored by a child's imagination weave threads between reality and memories.
The garden reflects the reality of my memories: they move, expand, change constantly and yet are timeless. One reality creates another as my private memories merge into the general consciousness, the experiences and memories of others. Through art we can create a new kind of connection with the past that affects the way we understand and experience reality. As I try to return to my childhood memories, time transforms, and the garden becomes an abstract fairyland, where a small row of raspberry bushes grow into a vast labyrinth, trees sing, and summer is eternal.