Maija Holma
Basic information
b. 1971, Jyväskylä
Photographer
Residence: Jyväskylä
Contact information
Phone number: 0504637113
Email: naulasaari@gmail.com
Artist’s Statement
I use recycled materials as the base for my photographic works; earlier I mostly used plywood and concrete, now I use paper and plastic. The imagery comes from border areas of nature and culture, milieus under construction or decay. Recycled polypropylene is accompanied by bushy park nature; trash paper meets architecture.
I observe the pilgrimage of matter through our world with devout, almost religious interest. The grounds for my decisions are, above all, aesthetic, but aesthetics are intertwined with the history; the past and present pilgrimage of the material object.
To be a photographer is to be a witness, and I also want my works to witness the reality of the world through their matter. That is why I choose materials that are everywhere around me, materials that almost drown me in their omnipresence.
The materialism of our society is actually a form of contempt towards the material itself. We manufacture non-degradable objects to be thrown on the roadside, into refuse dumps and into the ocean, to be taken away from their natural cycle. Plastic waste is made of oil, and oil comes from the prehistoric forests. We have created a process of reverse alchemy: creating waste from pure, honest, and natural materials. Materialism could also mean respecting every tiny piece of matter, to know what it is useful for, and the wisest way of using it.
I observe the pilgrimage of matter through our world with devout, almost religious interest. The grounds for my decisions are, above all, aesthetic, but aesthetics are intertwined with the history; the past and present pilgrimage of the material object.
To be a photographer is to be a witness, and I also want my works to witness the reality of the world through their matter. That is why I choose materials that are everywhere around me, materials that almost drown me in their omnipresence.
The materialism of our society is actually a form of contempt towards the material itself. We manufacture non-degradable objects to be thrown on the roadside, into refuse dumps and into the ocean, to be taken away from their natural cycle. Plastic waste is made of oil, and oil comes from the prehistoric forests. We have created a process of reverse alchemy: creating waste from pure, honest, and natural materials. Materialism could also mean respecting every tiny piece of matter, to know what it is useful for, and the wisest way of using it.
