Erika Erre
Nests
Galleria Huuto Jätkäsaari – Jätkä 1
13.1.-4.2.2018
Humans separate themselves from nature by using a different word for their nests than for the homes of other creatures which are mainly nesting places hidden in the environment, irregularly shaped shelters created on the terms of nature. The most primitive version of a home is probably a hole with obscure edges, a cave, while the spaces built by humans for themselves are groups of straight lines designed mathematically for us and others to look at. The exhibition plays with the definitions of a home and the residents of homes, the frameworks created by humanity and the weirdness that arises when a non-human nest is a geometrical shape.
Sand, which is one of the materials used, was selected because of a childhood belief: when I was little, I persistently thought that pyramids were made of sand. I was puzzled by that thought because my own sand castles were very fragile and I wondered how it was possible to have rooms and passageways as they always collapsed in my experiments.
For me as an adult, the fragility and changing of sand symbolizes the transience of homes and familiarity. Animal nests are usually temporary. Humans should not harbor an illusion about the absolute and everlasting permanence of their own homes either.
I wish to thank the Finnish Cultural Foundation for the grant which has, among other things, enabled this exhibition.
Erika Erre (b. 1979) is a Karjaa-based artist who has studied, for example, at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. She uses a wide range of techniques and materials and wants to approach them with an open mind. In this exhibition, she has used ceramics as a new technique.
Further information:
Erika Erre
erika.erre(at)gmail.com
