By the late hours the buffet table has taken up a new form – the most delicious meals are gone, the sauce bowl has been scraped empty, the sticky cutlery have changed places and the dishes that are left on the table are already beginning to turn into something else. Drinks have been poured and guests have talked out of turn. During the night the once rigid roles and stiff costumes have been stripped off one layer of clothing and dance at a time. In the stir of the party one doesn’t notice who was not invited and who has already left – with a treat for the road rolled inside a napkin.
Celebrating satisfies several basic human needs, where eating, drinking and fellowship are central. But a party is not necessarily a party for everyone. The shared fun of dining together can bring up social and socioeconomic tensions and reveal people’s (food and drink) allergies and diseases one prefers not to show in public. The post-party hangover is mixed with worries about where the food ends up – inside one’s own body and as waste. Conclusions about other people’s values can be made based on their meal choices. Food causes many kinds of reactions in us and even affects our psyche, so it is no wonder food leaves such strong memories. These memories are often shared like a cake eaten together from a shared plate.
The HYENA collective consists of four artists: Kira Björklund, Katri Kari, Mirkka Suokas and Hanna Tervonen. They have all received their Bachelor of Fine Arts from LAB University of Applied Sciences /Saimaa University of Applied Sciences. The artists work both with traditional methods as well as utilise unconventional materials in their works. The collective was founded in the fall of 2020 and has had three exhibitions during the fall-winter of 2021 in Galleria 3H+K, Galleria Muuntotila and Varikko Galleria.
