Hanna Tuulikki

The installation speaks to the challenges of environmental awareness within our deeply unsettling contemporary moment, however with an eye towards the past. It is inspired by the notion of metsänpeitto (forest cover) from Finnish folklore, which refers to a supernatural phenomenon by which people would become lost in the forest, losing all sense of orientation, and familiarity. Our ancestors understood that nature’s force, and will, is much greater than us. 

An ethereal presence emerges within a landscape punctuated by silver birch trees, lost in backwards time. We see/hear her, our companion, singing her sorrow, as we feel our way in semi-darkness. The forest becomes womb-like, immersing us within. Humankind’s ability to co-exist with nature nevertheless remains in balance, as the birches signal the long-term damage of forestry industries and monocultures, in countries such as Finland which have lost old growth forests almost entirely.  

The artist performs vocalisations based on traditional herding songs, summoning the audience, not unlike a mermaid, and attempting to guide the figure out of the enchanted forest. Instead of getting lost, perhaps we will all be found, or perhaps we will find other ways of being, more in tune with the natural world.