Anni Rapinoja
Relationships 1 & 2

The common reed – Phragmites australis – growing on the gradually evolving shoreline and increasingly shallow bays of Hailuoto island, just off the coast of Oulu, has in some places really got out of control. This situation is true of other areas too, including the Bay of Halikko. This supremacy has largely been brought about by man – by means of fertilizers and sewage. The causes of environmental problems are often discussed, but behind them all lie the actions of man. We have forgotten that we are a part of nature. It might at one time have seemed easy to act only for our own benefit, with no thought for the future, but at some point this turned against us.

In contrast to this, in my works Relationships 1 and Relationships 2 I want to show the ‘terrible beauty’ connected with these problems and I hope to make people stop and look at the problem. Relationship 1 is a type of hut, inside which it is hopefully possible to sense the power of the reed in relation to man. Relationship 2 consists of white masks set like earrings in varying depths of water. They are expressing a stark denial of the quality of the water and the reasons for it.