Ulla Väätäinen
Basic information
b. 1948, Leppävirta
Other
Residence: Helsinki
Contact information
Phone number: +358443211748
Email: ulla.vaatainen@midday.fi
Artist’s Statement
I am fascinated by the fact that matter does not have permanent form and existence.
Photo collages
I use images of materials, structures, and phenomena that are on an edge, in a transitional space or in process. In my collages I use characters displaced by time to portray frozen moments in the lives of people who are often unknown to me. The original significance of the image as a permanent documentation of a memory has evaporated, connections to its original stories have disappeared.
Video works
The first videos dating back to early 90`s made together with Liisa Karvonen were comments on the social and political situations. Their undertone rose from cruelty of man, submission, from dialogue between order and discipline. In the late 1990s, the works drew energy and visual imagery from the world touched by mythology and strange energies, while in the 2000s the videos have dealt with human separation, disappearance from yourself or from others - the inexplicable.
The combination of seemingly permanent and everchanging materials inspires me to build new meanings for these items and to guide them towards new, slightly twisted stories.
Photo collages
I use images of materials, structures, and phenomena that are on an edge, in a transitional space or in process. In my collages I use characters displaced by time to portray frozen moments in the lives of people who are often unknown to me. The original significance of the image as a permanent documentation of a memory has evaporated, connections to its original stories have disappeared.
Video works
The first videos dating back to early 90`s made together with Liisa Karvonen were comments on the social and political situations. Their undertone rose from cruelty of man, submission, from dialogue between order and discipline. In the late 1990s, the works drew energy and visual imagery from the world touched by mythology and strange energies, while in the 2000s the videos have dealt with human separation, disappearance from yourself or from others - the inexplicable.
The combination of seemingly permanent and everchanging materials inspires me to build new meanings for these items and to guide them towards new, slightly twisted stories.
