ART CENTER AHJO, HEHKU -SPACE: LEILA TANSKANEN

LEILA TANSKANEN, MINÄ JA MERISIILI
21.8. - 8.9.2024, HEHKU -SPACE

In my youth, I was working in a fish factory in Vadso, northern Norway, and that's when I found a large sea urchin shell on the beach, which I still have. I have admired and wondered about that shell for decades. In June 2022, I came to Northern Norway to work at Vadso's artist residency. There, I again fell in love with the sea urchin shells that the birds had carried to the fell. I collected large quantities of peels and removed all the thorns from them. The most wonderful reliefs and shades of color were revealed under the thorns. Sea urchins are the oldest creatures in the seas and the spines of a living sea urchin are very poisonous. Sea urchins can live up to 20 years. I compare the shells of sea urchins to humans. We each have our own shells, sometimes very prickly, when you shake off the thorns a little, you often find beautiful and sensitive humanity under them. The works are inspired by the reliefs of sea urchin shells. The skin of the hedgehogs on the table is delicate, you don't touch them because they are fragile.

WELCOME