Dark Days White Nights
beta SPACE Gallery, Helsinki June 2018

Dark Days, White Nights is the InSEA Congress  exhibition, opening a platform for artistic participation in the congress with its emphasis on the dialogue between academic and artistic practice.
 

The exhibition title refers to two thematic schemata. First, in Finland, conditions of light vary widely according to the season. North of the Arctic Circle, the sun does not set around midsummer and does not rise at all during midwinter. Light and the lack of light define the conditions of human existence to a great extent.
 

Secondly, Dark Days, White Nights refers to the ongoing changes in the world. Coincident with the rise in the number of refugees, right-wing populism has become stronger than ever since World War II. In this way, the title can be taken as a social, psychological and political metaphor.
 

Dark Days, White Nights encourages wide interpretations of the title and a variety of critical artistic approaches. How do we experience light as a condition of life and as an environmental living condition? How does art reflect cultural and political changes locally and globally? In line with the congress themes, the exhibition focuses on cultural diversity, post-humanism and eco-justice.
 

I produced a series of drawings and made the following statement:
 

As an artist I am interested in the brain and particularly the relationship between depression, (dis)connection and creativity. I have been investigating the relationship between my brain and my art making, if you want a kind of dialogue with my neurological self. My work is interested in the interior and exterior self, the individual and collective, the dark, the light and the grey and how these competing aspect connect to form a way of seeing and a way of being. I am aware that depression is generally on the increase in society. Iceland has the highest level of consumption of antidepressants, followed by Denmark and Portugal (OECD). The consumption of antidepressants has increased by over 80% on average across EU member states. I'm interested in change and its effect on our mental self. I will produce a series of drawings which consider the brain and the changing views or perceptions of self.