VAHINKO: Accident/Damage, 2013
This exhibition examines ‘foreign invasive flora species’ through artistic practice.
I came to Finland from North America via continental Europe just like the Lupin, almost 200 years later. Both of us were brought here with good intentions and both stayed by accident. This is now our home: we participate in society, influence our environment, have founded families, and thrive.
The idea for this exhibition began in November 2006, in South Africa where I was in a three-month artist residency. The Jacaranda tree is the first to flower in the Johannesburg spring and I was enchanted by the beautiful purple flowers that coated the city like a snow. Later, I learned two things: 1. the Jacaranda is a foreign tree, imported to Africa in 1888, and 2. South Africa, alone, employs an army of over 20,000 to hunt and destroy foreign flora species. The hate for these foreigners is so strong that some South Africans debate whether the 100 000, hundred-year-old Jacarada trees, in the city, should be systematically destroyed.
It sounds drastic, but when I returned to Finland, I noticed that foreign species here are also under attack. Here too there is hate for foreign species.
Lupins in particular inspire passionate feelings. Purple Lupins are poisonous. They depreciate the cost of hay, cause illness in careless farm animals and therefore demand more work of farmers. In addition, they easily take seed in a variety of landscapes and, most importantly, they modify the chemistry of the soil, making it unattractive to some native plants. Lupins represent invasion, a loss of human control and they inspire fear.
However Lupins, in a controlled environment, have also been utilised to benefit our existence. Lupins have been purposely used to modify the chemistry of soil to fertilize crops. A certain variety of yellow Lupins can be grown as a crop rich in protein for human consumption. Not to mention how Lupins have been used to beautify our gardens and attract butterflies and bees.
Wild Lupins are now on the list of threatened species in their “homeland”. And this rapid regression of lupins in eastern US is causing the near extinction of the Karner Blue Butterfly, whose larvae mainly feed on the Lupin.
What if by persecuting foreign species we end up driving the entire species to extinction on a global level? Here I am exaggerating to suit my imagination, but still, I cannot help question the motivation of our passion for control over foreign species: Foreign species which we brought home and nurtured, albeit accidentally.
I believe in the importance of biodiversity, and in a way, I see myself as representative of biodiversity through my multicultural family. But I am also seen as a foreign invasive species. Which is a greater threat to humanity?
Through the work in this exhibition I am juggling thoughts and questions about foreign invasive species. Is it realistic to believe that one invasive species could eventually control the whole planet killing everything in its path? Are plants threatening our very existence? These are real human fears, and the possibility of a homogenised planet is, with our help, rapidly becoming a reality. But are we aware of what we are actually doing to our environment? Or is the damage done, merely an accident.
_________________
This exhibition was made with the support of The Arts Promotion Centre’s Arts Council of Central Finland.
And I am especially grateful to Suvi Jokinen, Tiina Ekosaari, Aino-Maija Laitinen, Tuula Jambeck; Silmu Ruth, Touko Ruth, Tauri Kankaanpää, Tiina Lempiäinen-Trzaska; Ryynäsen kukkakauppa ja hautaustoimisto (Marjatta, Jaana and Juha); Museum of Central Finland; studio-mates Minja Revonkorpi and Sari Palander; Paula Tallinen ja Timo (Ely-keskus); Mark Martinez, Harri Kiiskinen (VTT); Jussi and Arja Jäppinen, Kassie and Thomas Ruth; Juho Jäppinen, Amy-k. Ruth, Anna-Leena Pesonen, Anssi Kaarlo Koskinen; Seppo, Marja-Leena and Päivi Ollikainen and Mika Kakko, for their unbelievable help, support, inspiration and personal time which made the creation of this exhibition possible.
This exhibition examines ‘foreign invasive flora species’ through artistic practice.
I came to Finland from North America via continental Europe just like the Lupin, almost 200 years later. Both of us were brought here with good intentions and both stayed by accident. This is now our home: we participate in society, influence our environment, have founded families, and thrive.
The idea for this exhibition began in November 2006, in South Africa where I was in a three-month artist residency. The Jacaranda tree is the first to flower in the Johannesburg spring and I was enchanted by the beautiful purple flowers that coated the city like a snow. Later, I learned two things: 1. the Jacaranda is a foreign tree, imported to Africa in 1888, and 2. South Africa, alone, employs an army of over 20,000 to hunt and destroy foreign flora species. The hate for these foreigners is so strong that some South Africans debate whether the 100 000, hundred-year-old Jacarada trees, in the city, should be systematically destroyed.
It sounds drastic, but when I returned to Finland, I noticed that foreign species here are also under attack. Here too there is hate for foreign species.
Lupins in particular inspire passionate feelings. Purple Lupins are poisonous. They depreciate the cost of hay, cause illness in careless farm animals and therefore demand more work of farmers. In addition, they easily take seed in a variety of landscapes and, most importantly, they modify the chemistry of the soil, making it unattractive to some native plants. Lupins represent invasion, a loss of human control and they inspire fear.
However Lupins, in a controlled environment, have also been utilised to benefit our existence. Lupins have been purposely used to modify the chemistry of soil to fertilize crops. A certain variety of yellow Lupins can be grown as a crop rich in protein for human consumption. Not to mention how Lupins have been used to beautify our gardens and attract butterflies and bees.
Wild Lupins are now on the list of threatened species in their “homeland”. And this rapid regression of lupins in eastern US is causing the near extinction of the Karner Blue Butterfly, whose larvae mainly feed on the Lupin.
What if by persecuting foreign species we end up driving the entire species to extinction on a global level? Here I am exaggerating to suit my imagination, but still, I cannot help question the motivation of our passion for control over foreign species: Foreign species which we brought home and nurtured, albeit accidentally.
I believe in the importance of biodiversity, and in a way, I see myself as representative of biodiversity through my multicultural family. But I am also seen as a foreign invasive species. Which is a greater threat to humanity?
Through the work in this exhibition I am juggling thoughts and questions about foreign invasive species. Is it realistic to believe that one invasive species could eventually control the whole planet killing everything in its path? Are plants threatening our very existence? These are real human fears, and the possibility of a homogenised planet is, with our help, rapidly becoming a reality. But are we aware of what we are actually doing to our environment? Or is the damage done, merely an accident.
_________________
This exhibition was made with the support of The Arts Promotion Centre’s Arts Council of Central Finland.
And I am especially grateful to Suvi Jokinen, Tiina Ekosaari, Aino-Maija Laitinen, Tuula Jambeck; Silmu Ruth, Touko Ruth, Tauri Kankaanpää, Tiina Lempiäinen-Trzaska; Ryynäsen kukkakauppa ja hautaustoimisto (Marjatta, Jaana and Juha); Museum of Central Finland; studio-mates Minja Revonkorpi and Sari Palander; Paula Tallinen ja Timo (Ely-keskus); Mark Martinez, Harri Kiiskinen (VTT); Jussi and Arja Jäppinen, Kassie and Thomas Ruth; Juho Jäppinen, Amy-k. Ruth, Anna-Leena Pesonen, Anssi Kaarlo Koskinen; Seppo, Marja-Leena and Päivi Ollikainen and Mika Kakko, for their unbelievable help, support, inspiration and personal time which made the creation of this exhibition possible.
