Artcenter Ahjo, Sysi-space: Selja Raudas

DESERT - GLACIER

Sensitive marginal habitats

Selja Raudas's latest paintings deal with the relationship between man and nature and the ecological balance through sensitive peripheral habitats – glaciers and deserts. While making the Ice series, Selja worked in Greenland for an episode. The desert paintings are based on trips to Jordan, the desert regions of Israel and Death Valley in California. He lived in Israel for a year and moved around the desert areas making sketches.

"I look at the desert and the glacier especially through the eyes of a painter. Color and spatial experiences are the material that I work on the canvas and which meet the two-dimensional surface. Through the layeredness, texture and expressive color expression of the paint, I explore the contradictions brought about by changing ecosystems. As an artist, I bring to the fore questions related to painting the solution through the means of painting nature's vulnerability."

Arctic ice melting and desertification are increasing due to humans. This is also how tensions between groups of people grow. Restoring or restoring natural resources and ecosystem services can be part of conflict resolution models. In addition to protecting ecosystem services, it is important to protect the world from future conflicts. It is not only about the sustainable use of natural resources, but the phenomenon is more profound: conflicts create environmental problems, and environmental problems are involved in the creation of conflicts.

The competition for Arctic natural resources has intensified. Fresh water, oil resources and the mining industry increase governmental interests and the strategic focus of the armed forces on the Arctic Ocean. Due to overgrazing, unsustainable farming methods or deforestation, the ecosystems of dry areas can change permanently. In ten years, one third of the world's people will live in areas where there is a shortage of water and basic needs. The melting of glaciers and desertification serve as indicators of larger changes in society. As a painter, I want to bring out sensitivity, vulnerability, tensions - the common and shareable experience of our time, which is the basis of art making.

The works were created in 2019-2023.

www.seljaraudas.net