Marjo Levlin
The House of Mind and Memories
Galleria Huuto Uudenmaankatu
13.4.–24.4.2005
The work is based on a house in the Finnish countryside that belongs to my father’s family, and to me it was my childhood summer villa and also my home for a couple of years in my youth. My memories of the summers that I spent there are easy and bright and turn towards a feeling of melancholy when coming closer to my youth, a time of loosing the innocence of a child and my brother in a car accident.
Today the house is close to falling down and has an atmosphere of surrealism since the main kitchen hall is lacking the floor; a big hollow of ground and dust is straight in front when entering through the main door. Still there are many remains of former life, such as objects of decoration on the walls, towels hanging were they used to hang and other household goods and furniture around.
Some of the objects were brought from America by my ancestors that emigrated in the end of the 19th century. Other derive from more modern times, such as the school and other drawings made by myself or by my brother. The objects that connect to America are very romantic and represent to me the dream of the promised land and a better life compared to the poor circumstances that my Finnish ancestors escaped from a long time ago.
These remains and the certain absurdness of the building itself have inspired me to process this installation and the work has been going on since 2002. Copying these pictures has been a slow process of trying to understand my mind, dreams and feelings and the naïve pictures represent a different life compared to the life of today.
This house is running down because nobody has the money or the interest to take care of it. Still I find a big value in it because it is carrying so much information, so many memories and stories. It is like a picture of my own body and mind with unknown and unsolved layers, bit by bit getting older, becoming dust and yet revealing small secrets as I find the courage to look it straight in the eyes.
The exhibition consists of an installation of paintings, drawings, photos and embroiders made on male cotton handkerchiefs, photos and a video.
The choice of ground material is connected to my father since he used similar handkerchiefs in his youth and also to my feeling of uncontrol when making this work; almost like I had been blowing my nose and not knowing what comes out of it.
The installation was exhibited during the autumn 2004 in The Museum of Contemporary Visual Arts, Minsk and in Museum Marc Chagall, Vitebsk, Belarus. New for this exhibition is the video “Dinner with My Father” that was made this spring.
Thanks for:
Föreningen Konstsamfundet
Marjo Levlin phone +358445964727
