Maria Nuutinen
WORTH IT
24.5. – 16.6.2019
My work processes often start from everyday insights and the confusion they produce. It could be said that I work to understand life.
Beauty and the pursuit thereof, even by taking extreme measures, awakened my interest when I noticed that people on television shows have begun to resemble each other. I also read an article about a journalist who sat down on a beauty clinic’s chair to find out how her face could be improved. What was interesting was not so much the suggested procedures but the expert’s appearance. Could one trust the opinion of a beauty expert who strangely enough looks like a worn-out Barbie doll? On the other hand, our judgment may be blurred. We are often very critical of our own photos and see “flaws” that other people do not notice. Our own appearance and the closeness of the topic may blind us.
My first beauty-related work, Beauty and the Beast, was on display at the Lappeenranta Art Museum in 2018 as part of the KAAKKO18 exhibition. The theme of the regional joint exhibition was proximity. Since then I have continued with the theme of beauty and made jewelry and other items as props for my photographs using, for example, artificial nails and hair extensions. Many of my works refer to well-known fairytale princesses. Sleeping Beauty is sleeping for a hundred years while waiting for a prince, mermaid Ariel lost her tongue in a trade with a witch and Cinderella is wearing a necklace made of toes. In my photographs, fantasy meets everyday reality. The beautiful story lines in fairytales find their counterparts in real life. Like Ariel, one can lose their voice in a relationship and staying silent may be a way to keep the “prince”.
Today, the appearance and media-centered culture gives adults an opportunity to continue playing princesses by altering the way they look and by making themselves visible through social media. There are many opinions, perspectives and stereotypes related to the theme of beauty. For example, beauty is associated with happiness and a certain type of appearance is considered to be a sign of stupidity. Young people are most susceptible to these influences as their identities are only just forming.
Maria Nuutinen (b. 1975) is a Lappeenranta-based jewelry artist with a studio in Art Center Itä which was established in 2018. Nuutinen creates her works by combining handicraft techniques with photography. She has studied jewelry design and most recently earned a master’s degree in fine arts from the Saimaa University of Applied Sciences. She is fascinated with current phenomena relating to being human as well as behavior. The artist’s works have been on display in various solo and joint exhibitions in Finland and abroad. She is a founding member of the Finnish Jewellery Art Association. At the moment her works are on display as part of the Finnish jewelry exhibition at the CODA Museum in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. Maria Nuutinen’s work has been supported by the Karelian Culture Promotion Foundation and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Further information:
nuutisenmaria(at)gmail.com
www.marianuutinen.com
