Colder Winds, 2026

ash and charcoal from alder and birch, burned peat, sand from a pine heath, tempera and oil on canvas

The painting is a diptych, each piece is 200 x 144cm. About 70 years ago, an old Finnhorse was spending its retirement days in eastern Finland. The horse pastured in Niitynperä, in a meadow bordered by barbed wire running from one birch tree to another. One morning, the horse did not arrive at the fence, as was its habit. The neighbours, Oiva and Viljo, set out to look for it with shovels on their shoulders. The horse was buried right where it was found in the alder grove. Who knows what else is buried in the meadow. Today, the birches have grown large, and the barbed wire cuts deep into them. Father and I felled alder trees and I burned the wood in the sauna stove. I collected the ash and the small pieces of charcoal left within it. I saved only the finest ash and ground the charcoal into dust. Part of the artwork Colder Winds is painted with the ash and charcoal of the Niitynperä alders, along with oil paint I made from sand gathered from the pinewoods of Lieksa. From a logging site or a rut torn open by a forestry machine. There are many of those in the east. In this body of work, I have been interested in the cycle of matter, natural materials, and the combination of different sources and memories.