LOST IN THE FOREST – Annika Bergvik Forsander

The exhibition features new collages and ink drawings by Pietarsaari-based visual artist Annika Bergvik-Forsander. In recent years, the artist has focused on cultural heritage and art history. Traces of the past are present in these works as well, but they are blended with contemporary phenomena and subjects, resulting in unique visual interpretations of existential questions.

A controlled and precise technique unites seemingly disparate themes into a vivid whole. At first glance, the images may appear simple and direct, but after a moment, they reveal themselves as both perplexing and mysterious. The titles, however, provide humorous hints, including works such as “The Holy Spirit Preventing the Pope from Doing Stupid Things,” “Palladio’s Wet Dream,” “Finnish Girls and Japanese Men,” “Whorehouse,” “Snow White and Her Mother,” and “Eros and the Bananas.”

The series “In Search of Lost Time” consists of five different portraits. Its title references Marcel Proust’s century-old novel cycle “À la recherche du temps perdu” (In Search of Lost Time), which has been an important source of inspiration for the artist. Each image is constructed from small fragments—cut-up ink drawings that originally depicted historical geniuses. In these image collages, the geniuses have, in a way, been granted new life, becoming parts of entirely new figures and personalities.

The exhibition has been supported by the Eugéne, Elisabeth, and Birgit Nygren Foundation.

Translated with ChatGPT