VILMA KOSOLA

Studies in identity 1: Origin, 2022

The first part of the work is a deliberate, carefully thought-out representation of Finnishness, a certain vision of an idealized history and identity with the underlying themes of foreign influences like the Russian rule. It includes pages from my late grandfather’s passport, specifically the pages from his trips to Saint Petersburg and other previously soviet cities. There are cuttings of old Finnish postcards, family album photos, a Helsinki postal stamp and dried flowers picked from near my childhood home. The snippets of text are cut from a work booklet from Tampere Art Museum’s exhibition around Magnus Enckell.

The second part aims to mix vintage elements with contemporary, strange and “foreign” imagery. This part includes a page from a Swedish-Finnish dictionary, cuttings from fashion magazines like VOGUE, advertisements, discarded photos and once again text from the Tampere Art Museum booklet.