NIGHT MOTH – Annika Dahlsten
In my exhibition, I present the animation Night Moth (2015). In this melancholic stop-motion animation, a lost moth encounters the cycle of life. The moth explores a still life where the objects symbolize the brevity of time and the inevitability of the end. The vanitas themes, popular in the Middle Ages, remind us that worldly pleasures are fleeting, and death is inevitable for all. The signs and symbols associated with death are deeply human; they reflect our need to comprehend the unknown of death and to confront the fears related to it.
The Ancient Greek word psyche means “life,” deriving from the word for “breathe.” It also refers to the goddess Psyche, personification of the soul, and the butterfly. Breathing life into a lifeless object parallels artistic creation. In the exhibition, the world of the film is complemented by an installation. It offers a glimpse of a room that breathes slowly: text appears on writing paper, the moth drifts through the room as a shadowy flicker, and withered flowers drop their petals. The work continues the thoughts evoked by the animation, exploring themes of memory, loneliness, and seizing the moment. The central theme of the entire exhibition is memento mori, “remember your mortality,” which can also be translated as “remember to live.”
Night Moth has been presented at over 40 international film festivals and has received more than ten finalist nominations or honorable mentions. It was awarded Best Animation at the British Sandbar Film Festival and Discover Film Festival in 2016, and the film is currently being distributed across Europe by the ARTE TV channel. Last summer, it was screened at the Mänttä XX1 Art Biennale and at the Love and Anarchy film festival last autumn. The film will be presented at festivals in Valencia, Spain, in January, and in Lisbon, Portugal, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in March.
Turku-based visual artist Annika Dahlsten works and participates in exhibitions both in Finland and abroad. Dahlsten’s works are currently featured in a Finnish contemporary lithography exhibition in Casablanca, Morocco. Last autumn, Dahlsten’s public art piece Lähde (“Spring”), a lit glass artwork series, was installed at the renovated Vaisteentalo in Turku’s market square.
The exhibition is supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Föreningen Konstsamfundet, and the Culture Committee of the City of Turku.
Translated with ChatGPT