Heading For The Woods at The Finnish Forest Museum Lusto

Heading for the Woods is presented as part of KORU8 - the eighth edition of the International Contemporary Jewellery Triennial organized by the Finnish Jewellery Art Association.

I have the great pleasure to take part in the contemporary jewellery exhibition that will be on display in two different museums in Finland: The Finnish Forest Museum Lusto in Punkaharju from May to December 2024 and The Oulu Art Museum in winter 2025.

For this 2024 edition, KORU8 invites artists to think about forests. What is a forest in the context of contemporary jewellery? Is it a material, colors or textures, feelings, words, experiences? How forests relate to you and your culture?

In Finland, forest is an important part of national narratives and can act as a symbol of timelessness and immemorial, for instance. The theme of the KORU8 exhibition is discussed with the exhibition venue : Lusto – The Finnish Forest Museum. As Lusto is a specialist in forest culture, it offers a cohesive surrounding for the forest-themed artwork and also a space for questions of forest use and protection.

The Finnish Forest Museum Lusto in Punkaharju and The Oulu Art Museum.

As part of this exhibition, I’m presenting three pieces from my series of sculptural chains inspired by the rich and complex theme of family - whether hereditary or chosen. With this series I aim to offer a conceptual reflection on our social ties and filiations, and on the shifting nature of relationships within a group. These pieces are geometric metaphors that deal with connection, belonging, heritage and transformation.

Chosen Family, Maple, walnut and cherry wood, 2023.

There Is A Bridge, Maple, walnut and cherry wood, 2023.

Kindred Spirits, walnut wood, 2023.

I’ve been interested in the notion of singular identity in relation to a group. Just like forests exist by the multiplication of single trees, chains are made of the addition of multiple links all related to one another. It is the grouping that forms the whole. In nature, each tree contributing to the woodland is perfectly unique while unequivocally sharing a common identity with their fellows. Every single one of them belongs without any doubt to what we call a forest.

Could the forest be the most inclusive community of them all?

An essential part of the KORU8 event is also a two-day seminar with artist talks and expert lectures in related fields, and a series of jewelry related workshops led by international teachers and professionals. The main purpose of the event is to present widely international contemporary jewellery and bring together the artists, lecturers, researchers and people with interest in contemporary jewellery to take part in exhibition, seminar and workshops.

KORU8 received 452 applications from over 50 countries.
49 artists from 26 countries were selected for the exhibition.

I would like to thank the Finnish Jewelry Art Association and the members of the jury Kalkidan Hoex, Reetta Karhunkorva, Terhi Tolvanen and Selina Väliheikki.

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Selected artists include

Manami Aoki, Miriam Arentz, Ingrid Berg, Sara Blosseville, Monika Brugger, Willemien Bruwer, Fernando Crêspo, Ildikó Dánfalvi, Margus Elizarov, Åsa Elmstam, Gésine Hackenberg, Aya Jadon, Courtney Jamieson, Therese Johansson, Steven Kaplan-Pistiner, Shun Wan Ko, Heeseung Koh, Moses Krämer, Jamie Kroeger, Marie Lafaille, Vivi Lamarre, Kristiina Laurits, Helena Lehtinen, Yuxi Lu, Helena Lundahl, Märta Mattsson, Felicia Mülbaier / Valérie Wagner / Luisa Werner, Maria Nuutinen, Rachel Ouizemann, Ismini Pachi, Kimia Parang, Inni Pärnänen, Janne Peltokangas, Arianna Pittini, Sarah Powell, Kendall Reiss, Anna Rikkinen, Anne Saastamoinen, Meghan Schmiedel, Olga Stalev, Yen-Yu Tseng, Natalie Vanderzand, María Ignacia Walker, Mona Wallström, Lingjie Wang, Josephine Winther, Ching-Hui Yang

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