para field notes, Photographic Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki, Finland, April 6 -22, 2018.
The exhibition takes its title from 'para', the supernatural milk stealers of Nordic folklore. These mythological beings preceded the arrival of Christianity in Finland and can be seen, depicted as devils, on the interior of the church at Kalanti, Southwest Finland. The show deals with the presentation of some aspects of the folklore of the rural springtime - a time when animals are released into the open from winter barns and male snakes emerge from their winter subterranean hibernation. Video works contain the sounds of folk songs and traditional birch bark horns, played alongside the ringing of the Easter church bells at Kalanti. At its core, belief in this kind of folk knowledge - belies a deeply human need to subvert the unknown forces that guide fate.
The exhibition was made with the grateful collaboration of the Men's Choir of Mynämäki; Minna Hokka & the Tavastila Local Museum in the village of Mietoinen, Photographic Gallery Hippolyte and the support of the Saari Residence and the Kone Foundation.
[image credits:milla talassalo; poster design: Daneila Weirich]
