Pertti Karjalainen: About hundred and other stories
The war in Ukraine and its brutality have brought to the surface intergenerational traumas and the experiences of my own parents during the Winter War in Finland, the Continuation War, and the Lapland War. Alongside this, I have been reflecting more broadly on the turning points in European and Russian history after World War II.
My mother, a Karelian evacuee, and my father, a war veteran, have their own fates, and their meeting as builders of the destroyed church in Rovaniemi is a story in itself—part of the chain of generations who lived through the war.
Nature and the environment hold a special significance in the content of my art. In my works, I explore the dialogue between form and colour. I do not create my pieces directly from observation but rather process them through the subconscious. In this way, I incorporate my own thoughts and experiences from both the present and the past.
Rootlessness, sorrow, and longing form a current that connects generations, and from this emerges the title of my exhibition: About a Hundred and Other Stories.
About the artist:
I was born in Rovaniemi 1956. Studies: Art School Liminka 1981–1982, Free Art School in Helsinki 1984–1987. I reside and work in Jyväskylä.
Materials: Acrylic / Fluorescent acrylic on canvas, PLA filament, photograph / inkjet print, UV light, sound.
Studio MustanapaKairatie 3,
96100 Rovaniemi
Free entrance