Deadwood plays an instrumental role in the renewal and vitality of nature. However, with modern forestry, today there is little if any wood left to rotten among the living trees. Small spaces of silence was born out of rotten and hollow tree trunks, through which I have slowly dug. Instead of ending up as wood chips burned for energy, they have transformed into massive bowl-like spaces and ended up in an art gallery. Cleaned, fixed, masked, dyed and scratched trunks form a bulky and clumsy bunch, begging for a re-evaluation.

 

The form of a bowl or a vessel is inspiring, since it is among the first objects ever created by humans. Over time, a bowl has also come to symbolize humans themselves. The title of the work, "Small spaces of silence", draws inspiration from Irish poetry. It refers to those brief, quiet moments and pauses within life's noise, creating room for deep listening, reflection, connection, and presence, often found in nature, between words, or in liminal moments, providing respite and clarity rather than emptiness.

 

Poplar, pine, bruce, aspen, ash, woodstains, gilding, metal components

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Photos: Aino Huhtaniemi, Lenina Solantaus