For the guests visiting the exhibition
In 2006-2015, I lived long periods of time in
Russia, in the
village of Panozero. The village is a
beautiful, strange, enchanting and difficult place. A time hundreds
of years ago coexists with the present in the landscape and everyday
life of the village, but there the changes of time are also sharp,
rapid and their affects deeply personal.
The Panozero Village is located, almost secluded, behind terribly poor roads and a ferry connection in Kemsky District of the Republic of Karelia, along the Kem River. A new dam has been planned on the river for decades, which, if realized, would have drowned the village. The preservation of a culturally and historically valuable village has been fought, and the dam now under construction is likely to leave the village untouched. When I lived in the village, there was no certainty about it yet, and the threat of rising water was constantly in the background of our minds. The vitality and existence of the village is also threatened by poverty and unemployment.
My job at the Village was restoration work and maintaining a small crafts workshop, but the most important thing was that I had a more than hundred-year-old log house on the island, at its highest point, in the middle of the Old Village’s unforgettable beautiful landscape as a home, and that I got to live throught the changes of seasons as a part of the village community and its everyday life.
Living in The Panozero also meant constant crossing over the border between Finland and Russia. The border is a real border between the two states, but also between two very different worlds and realities. The difference was steep and hard to adjust to every time.
The time I spend in The Panozero, takes place in my life as I move from youth to adulthood. The village, its people, landscape, and everything I have experienced and learnt there has had a strong impact on how I look at the world or experience humanity. I share my current everyday reality with the memories and stories of the Village. Different realities mix with each other. I carry the Village with me. Different times and places coexist in me, and I am at the same time in many different times and places.
The pictures and stories in this exhibition have born in the landscape of the Panozero Village, but they also have crossed the border many times. Memories and views are mixed and layered.
The image breaks down and rebuilds over and over again.
VILLAGE is a state of mind, a parallel reality and a state of time.
Warm thanks to
The Panozero Village is located, almost secluded, behind terribly poor roads and a ferry connection in Kemsky District of the Republic of Karelia, along the Kem River. A new dam has been planned on the river for decades, which, if realized, would have drowned the village. The preservation of a culturally and historically valuable village has been fought, and the dam now under construction is likely to leave the village untouched. When I lived in the village, there was no certainty about it yet, and the threat of rising water was constantly in the background of our minds. The vitality and existence of the village is also threatened by poverty and unemployment.
My job at the Village was restoration work and maintaining a small crafts workshop, but the most important thing was that I had a more than hundred-year-old log house on the island, at its highest point, in the middle of the Old Village’s unforgettable beautiful landscape as a home, and that I got to live throught the changes of seasons as a part of the village community and its everyday life.
Living in The Panozero also meant constant crossing over the border between Finland and Russia. The border is a real border between the two states, but also between two very different worlds and realities. The difference was steep and hard to adjust to every time.
The time I spend in The Panozero, takes place in my life as I move from youth to adulthood. The village, its people, landscape, and everything I have experienced and learnt there has had a strong impact on how I look at the world or experience humanity. I share my current everyday reality with the memories and stories of the Village. Different realities mix with each other. I carry the Village with me. Different times and places coexist in me, and I am at the same time in many different times and places.
The pictures and stories in this exhibition have born in the landscape of the Panozero Village, but they also have crossed the border many times. Memories and views are mixed and layered.
The image breaks down and rebuilds over and over again.
VILLAGE is a state of mind, a parallel reality and a state of time.
Warm thanks to
Henna for many
hours of help with building the exhibition,
My sisters for editing and translating texts for the
exhibition,
Oona ︎ for support in the writing process,
Selma ︎,
Sini and Maria for their constant encouragement and warm
interest,
and
To the Arts Promotion Center in Finland and Turun
Saskiat Ry for supporting the exhibition!
Thank you for the
coming!
Sincerely
Anna-Kaisa Vuonokari
Sincerely
Anna-Kaisa Vuonokari