Bio
Heini Uusisilta-Immonen (b.1985) is a visual artist currently working and living in Järvenpää. In her work she is often exploring questions and concerns relating to her personal life, care and labour and relation towards the environment. Over the past years her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Finland. She holds a BA from Fine Art Kankaanpää, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences and is currently working on her Master’s degree in Visual Culture, Curating and Contemporary Art at Aalto University school of Arts, Design and Architecture.
Artist Statement
My practice is strongly influenced by my surroundings and experiences of everyday life. In my most recent work I have been focusing on the topics of motherhood, artistic practice, care and labor. Care is also connect to my interests towards interspecies relationships and gardening. I am often observing my surroundings and learning from these experiences. I work using variable methods and individual work can for instance be installation, sculpture, performance, image, costume or a story. Elements of absurdity and playfulness are common to my works even though the subjects can be sometimes painful or heavy.
Description
As a part of our assignment for ViCCA production I purchased a coconut from my local supermarket and began to work with it with intention of getting to know this particular coconut a little better. The process led to series of experiments including observing, listening and inventing stories. As usual my process started from personal life experience, a memory of a song , and ended up moving in multiple different directions. Whole process of working with a coconut was humorous and funny but it led me to think also about friendships and missing places which I had visited before.
COCONUT CALL
I’m following a call of a coconut. As you probably already know coconut doesn’t make a sound by itself but nevertheless I like to think that it has its own special voice or a sound that is hidden from most of us. You can hear coconut calling for you if you approach this special fruit with an open mind but keep in mind that coconut will choose if and when it’s going to share its call with you. Coconut calls are not for everyone but they are everywhere if you are lucky enough to hear them.
