Paola Fernanda Guzmán Figueroa, Natalie Hamada, Shirin Hotta

The exhibition is open Tue-Sun 11-18.

Exceptional opening hours: 24.12 the exhibition is open 11-14, 30.12 the exhibition is open 11-16. 25.12, 26.12 and 1.1.2022 the exhibition is closed.

Paola Fernanda Guzmán Figueroa: Returning to the Island, Regresando a la Isla

Returning to the Island, Regresando a la Isla contains an installation and two films. Through the work, I intend to explore topics related to migration and family dynamics. I make use of analog film, a method requiring liquids and circular movements, that has naturally enabled me to undertake deeper analysis and explorations over the elements captured through the camera.

The idea of belonging or “being inside” has always come to my mind when thinking of an aquarium, to belong to a group, to belong to a system, to be inside of our minds, to be inside of a body, to be inside of a space. As it is connected to water, an aquarium has also allowed me to ponder ideas about someone’s past, life changes, transitions, and self-observing. In the middle of these meanings, a deep sense of warmness and nostalgia have also shown up strongly.

About the artist

Paola Fernanda Guzmán Figueroa (1992, Colombia) is a visual artist based in Helsinki that mainly works with film, installations, and time-based arts. Her work reflects and rises themes connected to time changing, migration, and transnational objects. When she departed from her home country Colombia to Finland, she left an aquarium at home.

Fernanda has a BA degree in Visual Arts, completed in Bogotá, Colombia. During this degree, she did exchange studies in the Film and Television Department of Aalto University. In 2019, she graduated with her BA in Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts and currently, she is finishing her master's in the department of Time and Space Arts.

Paola is one of the Co-Founders of the artist film collective Kino Club Helsinki that has been running since 2017.

www.paolafernanda.com @paolaeneltiempo (Instagram)

Natalie Hamada: Illuminated Tales

Illuminated Tales is a series of portraits about the unspoken and intricate emotions; convictions, concerns, nostalgia, faith, and love. The artworks are intended to touch upon and even reveal the complexity of an inner self, and they are narrative, allegorical and inspired by personal experiences.

The process of the work relies on merging details of images that have a connection to art history, vintage photos and family albums, where the combination of the disparate figures can provoke different interpretations. From digital collage into printmaking and especially silkscreen, I apply several transparent layers of hand-printings. Through a process of adding, wiping, stenciling and obscuring, I let the unpredictability feature of hand printing to be essential in the making process.

About the artist

Natalie Hamada (1994, Latakia-Syria) is a Helsinki-based artist who works mainly with collage and printmaking techniques. Hamada completed her bachelor's in 2015 and master's studies in 2019 at the department of printmaking, Faculty of fine arts in Damascus University. Currently, she is a second-year master's student at the department of Printmaking, in Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts.

Illuminated Tales is the second part of Hamada’s thesis project, the first one was on display at Kuvan Kevät in spring 2021.

@nataliehamada.printmaker (Instagram)

Shirin Hotta: Experiences

Experiences contains paintings, that combine oil paint, tempera and grounding materials and their mutual relationships. I have also been thinking of space, coloured brush strokes and colour areas. These have been my “tools” or focuses this autumn.

Overall, the act of painting itself, to paint, is the most important part. Every painting is built on previous experiences in the painting process. Also, in the experience of painting, there are similar aspects to life. You wish to feel alive, and in the moment, you wish to be spontaneous and brave. Many times, still, you have to do your travel with something tragical or merely with something humane and restrictive.

About the artist

Shirin Hotta (1979) is a Finnish-Iranian artist. This is the second part of her master´s thesis. The first part was shown in Kuvan Kevät 2021 master show. She is currently finishing her studies in the painting department, in Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts.

www.shirinhotta.com

Exhibition closed on 25, 26 December and 1 January.