Layers of Distance – Antti-Ville Reinikainen

“A stereotype is a simple depiction that arises when complex differences are reduced to a simple ‘cardboard cutout.’ The different features of the subject are merged and condensed into a single image. This exaggerated simplification is then linked to a specific group of people or place. Its features become the marks, the ‘evidence,’ by which the subject in question is known. They define the subject’s being, its essence.”

– Stuart Hall, Identity

I have created a series of impressions: an exhibition that incorporates painting, installation, and photography, where I have strongly addressed the present feeling of distance. I examine not only the fundamental distance between two people but also the relationship between a mother and child, based on a contradictory, unsatisfied need for contact, as well as the level of distance between generations.

The starting point has been my great-grandmother Aili Vihantola, who turned one hundred years old on January 8 of this year. I have researched my great-grandmother’s personal history and drawn from it to form the content foundation for my works. Photographs, diaries, and interviews I conducted have informed the background of the pieces, yet have been kept at a necessary distance. It is significant how important fantasy is in the impressions related to a person. In the creation process, extensive research has been placed in the background, and what has been brought forward are the emotional states and impressions that arose through the research material. The personal level is thus behind as referential marks, giving central weight to subjective and universal interpretations.

This text was created with AI assistance