Childhood Helmet – Mammu Rauhala’s Masks, Videos, and Sculptures

Princess play and fluffy, fragile, cotton candy dreams. Being a tomboy, running with the boys, and constantly searching for one’s role and place. Fear, terror, uncertainty, and shame. A deep connection with others and, at the same time, a profound sense of not belonging. Long phone calls on a landline with a friend and passing around letter notebooks in class. Beauty and ugliness, rough experiences, successes, and growth. The subconscious and things that aren’t fully understood. Intense moods, emotions, and scents. A little personal chaos that is tidied up by carrying toys across the threshold of one’s room and shutting the door tightly behind.

In her solo exhibition Childhood Helmet, Mammu Rauhala has installed works that in some way refer to childhood and youth—the time of searching for identity. The unifying theme of the exhibition became clear when her childhood home was put up for sale in the spring of 2022. It was time to let go of a cherished safe haven, as well as many childhood and adolescent belongings. Some of these treasures, such as glossy stickers and letter notebooks, became materials for the exhibition’s artworks.

Rauhala’s Childhood Helmet exhibition at Poriginal Gallery showcases handmade masks, video performances, self-portraits, as well as papier-mâché and mixed-media sculptures. The mask series originated during the COVID-19 pandemic when the sudden appearance of face masks in public spaces inspired Rauhala to explore the theme of hiding one’s face through art. Having worked in theater and performance art, masks, disguises, and roles have been an essential part of her practice long before the pandemic. All the works in the exhibition have been created over the past two years.

Throughout the history of performing arts, masks have often represented ancestors, cultural heroes, gods, or cosmic order, and they have been used to seek or express the temporary and ritualistic presence of spirit within a person. Through her masks, Rauhala explores societal roles, statuses, and norms, as well as her own inner world, identity, and emotions. Themes of femininity and girlhood are particularly present in her work.

“Every mask and wearable sculpture I create is a self-portrait or an alter ego, revealing different sides of myself. In this exhibition, the most prominent masks are those born from the subconscious, many of which deal with childhood and youth. Creating and wearing masks is an addictive yet serious form of play for me. My works are often raw, unpolished, and include a touch of dark humor.”

Rauhala’s artistic masks and small sculptures are primarily made of papier-mâché, incorporating additional elements such as small toys or beads through mixed-media techniques. She strives to use recycled materials in all her work. Many of the masks function as independent sculptures, standing on their own without a photograph or a person wearing them. Others, however, come to life only when worn—interacting with the audience, captured in photographs, or seen in videos. Self-portraits with masks and video performances related to them are an integral part of Rauhala’s project, with several never-before-seen video works premiering at Poriginal.

Translated with ChatGPT