WHAT:
PHOTO-BASED INSTALLATION
WHERE:
KARJAA, FINLAND
WHEN:
2004
Once upon a time
Once upon a time is about memories, remembering and the fact that everything vanishes. It is about signs that we leave and about things that stay behind from the moments that we have gone through.
In spring 2004 our adopted daughter Devi made me realize the mercy and the lack of it. Devi came to Finland when she was not yet two years old and during the first year she talked lot about Amma – her biological mother. Later she stopped talking about Amma so much and her stories were confused with other memories. One morning Devi asked me if I remembered what she had told me about Amma. ”That she was sick and slept away”, I answered. ”And I also told that Amma did not have shoes”, she continued. Then Devi told me that she did not really remember the story about the shoes very well or the other stories about Amma either.
People forgets easily if he has nothing to help him remember. At the same time, it is sad and mercyful that Devi forgets her memories about India. Her longing for Amma fades away slowly. On the other hand, memories that we have lived in the end turn into stories. I wondered what memories Devi had and which memory would stay i n her mind and what were the signs of her biological mother and India.
In these pictures I combine images of old walls that have wornout frescos and images of Devi, her belongings and things that remind her of the past. Images with walls are colourful and in front of those pictures are simple black and white images printed on glass. Pictures on glass are like memories and behind them one can see the frescos that time wears out without mercy.
