How to attain a feather-light existence and shed all excess? Hanna Samoson dedicated the past year to pondering this quest. Through her contemplations, a series of patterns emerged from her experiences, aligning like puzzle pieces with the symbols she encountered. Within the confines of the Lasnamäe Pavilion, visitors are invited to traverse a path crafted by videos, stone sculptures, and installations. This journey captivates, involving us in its narrative, yet maintaining an openness that mirrors the artist’s profound realization — that every ending is always the beginning of something new.
Fueled by grief, Samoson unlocks the door to understanding profound human experiences. Curator Siim Preiman emphasizes the impossibility of encapsulating another person’s journey in words, stating, “Hanna Samoson is not a suffering artist, but a curious, empathetic and caring person. After her loss she set her sights on reconciliation, deciding to give up everything superfluous and strive for a state where nothing is redundant, but nothing is lacking, either. On her journey Hanna encounters various people and animals, experiences powerful natural phenomena and other seemingly small but magical coincidences.”
Hanna Samoson (1987) explores the boundaries of art and tries to perceive the unknown. Being in constant motion as an intuitive creator, her work is characterised by quick and spontaneous decisions. She studied photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts and graduated from the FAMU Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in 2021. In the autumn of 2020 she walked the future route of Rail Baltic from Ikla to Tallinn as an endurance art performance, as a result of which the film Trail Baltic: A Trip to the Green (2023) was produced in cooperation with Levila. Among her latest shows are group exhibitions Pine-fulness at Tallinn City Gallery (2021) and Vana-Võromaa Cultural Centre (2022) and Runner Along the Border, Rat Catcher and Bricklayer at the Art Hall Gallery (2022).
The collaboration for the exhibition involved the support of spiritual guide Klara Hobza, along with artists and companions Helena Keskküla and Johanna Ranne, composer Janek Murd, sound designer Martin Kikas and project manager Hanna-Antheia Stern. Kairi Mändla designed the exhibition.
The exhibition is accompanied by a versatile audience and educational programme, information about which will be announced on Tallinn Art Hall’s website at kunstihoone.ee/en/programme.
