Kirjo At Oulu Art Museum 2025

Kirjo At Oulu Art Museum 2025

Kirjo [1] is an exhibition that resembles a colourful piece of embroidery where contemporary art, crafts and duodji [2] intersect. It is an ode to the diversity of lifeforms, relationships, and stories that show resilience and resistance at the face of climate breakdown and collapsing ecosystems. 

On display are works by twelve artists or artist groups from the Nordic countries and Sápmi, created using a variety of techniques. The title of the exhibition Kirjo, is a word in Finnish that, in this instance, refers to the broad spectrum of artistic practices featured in the exhibition. The term also alludes to the craft of embroidery [3], which can be seen as a metaphor for stitching together contemporary art and crafts. A third connotation evoked by the title is neurodivergency –  the variation between individuals in how the world is sensed and experienced.

The overarching aim of the exhibition is to imagine ways for living more harmoniously and sustainably as part of the multi-species community on Earth. The featured artworks encourage this by inviting visitors to connect with their ancestors, heal personal and collective traumas and plant seeds for the future. Many of the exhibited artworks highlight the importance of intergenerational dialogue and understanding life’s eternal cyclical rhythms. Stories of microscopic and cosmic proportions come to meet and merge. 

In Marthe Yung Mee Hansen’s words: “An important aspect of the exhibition is to explore how crafts practices not only keep alive or revive traditions, but adapt to the changing world and reshape it through innovation and sharing. The artists in the show challenge the established material categories typical to crafts. Their artworks preserve the tactile and multisensory qualities of traditional crafts in unexpected ways. These include a video of dancing plants created with 3D animation, a living sculpture made with a combination of bacterial and yeast cultures, a series of works created by shooting metal staples on wood, and a video piece based upon luohti, a creative expression through dance rooted in the Sámi culture.” [4]

Many of the artists in the exhibition combine the methods of contemporary art and crafts in their practice. Contemporary art, with its tendency to question deep-seated beliefs and conventions, along with the intimate relationship with materials and connection to the rhythms of nature characteristic of crafts, converge to sow seeds for a more sustainable future. The embodied ways of knowing and conceptual approaches compliment each other.

Instead of directly addressing clear-cut themes, the dynamic forces of imagination and dreaming are at the forefront. Focusing on imagination does not mean closing one’s eyes from the reality, however. It means developing better visions and gathering strength for birthing a new world.

As Arundhati Roy famously put it: “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” [5]

—

1. Kirjo loosely translates as ’spectrum’ in English.

2. Sámi handicrafts and creative expression

3. ’Kirjonta’ in Finnish.

4. Marthe Yung Mee Hansen. In: Abundance – 45 th Tendencies – Nordic Contemporary Crafts. Galleri F15, Moss: Norway. 2023. Edited by Marthe Yung Mee Hansen and Ki Nurmenniemi.

5. A quote from Arundhati Roy’s speech ‘Confronting the Empire’ at the World Social Forum 2003.

—

Photos from left to right:

Sara Blosseville Fellowship Outfit (2022) Metsänpeitto (2021-2024)

Ellen Grieg Kveil, Halvstikk, Blå drage, Kjerringknute (2022)

Kristin Larsson The Amass (2022)

—

Photos: Rami Farooq.