till life (Stillleben in German) means still life painting. There can be very ordinary objects in still life and it the still life artwork is often a study-like composition. However in still life painting there are almost without exception also symbolic meanings.
My works approach otherness like it was a still life. Ordinary, very familiar elements – shadows, roots, skin, wrinkles and folds in fabric – they become sacred symbols of otherness, separate and perhaps also unity through monochromatic palette.
A fabric, curtain or skin. Simultaneously covering and emphasizing the covered and hidden. Defining other as other but at the same time evoking curiosity and inviting to reach that other. Without the connection to other there´s no life – self and other, manhood.
Still lives is stagnant, still lives studying otherness and self as well. Roots, shadows, skin, folds.
Elisa Tuohimaa is a visual artist and an art educator (MA, Lapin yliopisto) from Kempele. In her art Tuohimaa deals with humanity: the need to become seen and accepted, presence and absence, the rights and difficulties of self, it´s history, surroundings and connection to other.
The most important in artwork for Tuohimaa is an endeavour to reach and find a shared experience with a viewer. She is interested of researching and acting through and by art and also of a strong influence of visual culture to our society. Tuohimaa is a member of Finnish Painters´ Union and Oulun taiteilijaseura -63.
