arteles_catalogue_2014

SOWNER, LIKE DOWNER: NOT SAUNA, LIKE FAUNA
The starting point for this project, was the Finnish tradition of
Sauna.
My artistic practice typically involves an almost anthropological
investigation of contemporary, and ancient, behaviours and
artefacts, where an egalitarian approach is applied to, high and
low, sources of cultural significance.
In previous work, I have explored the universal association
between steam, smoke and condensed breath, with visual
representations of the soul. The Finnish word, “löyly”, is applied
only to sauna steam, and its original meaning derives from spirit,
soul and breath.
In Sowner Spirit, 2014, layers of creative processes (for example,
re-filming moving imagery, projected onto flowing fabric and
curls of synthetic smoke), result in an ethereal glow amongst the
colour banding of defunct technologies.
This film depicts repeated gestures, re-enacted from documentary
footage, of a performance that took place at the site of Arteles, in
1985. I performed the movements in slow motion, then selected
specific gestures to loop.
Inspiration also came from the mating displays of a pair of cranes,
visible from my studio window. In the fields opposite, they spread
their wings and performed the dance common to their species,
while mirroring each other’s movements.
In Easter Bonnie, 2014, I enacted my own adaptations of
the Finnish tradition of Virpominen, substituting the usual
Virpomisloruja (blessing) with a time-honoured Scottish farming
song, Ca’ The Yowes, Robert Burns, 1794. This is overlaid with
footage of the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Old Rauma, and
Sammallahdenmäki, the bronze-age burial site.
The theoretical premise of my artwork, is that gestural
behaviours supersede human lifespans, during which we, semiunconsciously,
serve as host carriers for behavioural clusters
that transcend our comprehension.