I've been to Finland several times for work and each time I discover new things and always feel so inspired and heart-warmed by the way everything is interwoven around the gentle ways people deeply connect with nature. Deep connections (true, meaningful and understated) with the landscape feed into everything in Finland and maybe especially here in Karelia.
I'm going to be doing lots of creative investigations with the local school here as part of the wonderful Lab 13 project work set up here by Ignite. It was a rather wonderful walk to and from the school here today... I woke up early to very gentle rain which stopped as I left to walk to school, the mist over the forest created an even deeper sense of calm and peace - just the sound of a very gentle drip, dripping of the water droplets from the trees onto the mossy ground...
The red hut in one of the photos below is part of the school, I could wax lyrical about the Finnish education system for hours... so calm and connected to nature. No boundaries marked around school (or most houses), no fence, there's a footpath straight off into the forest... Outdoor shoes off at the door, which means everyone is in socks and slippers inside, again so very calm... no uniform, everyone is calm and cosy in clothes you can feel cosy in (staff and pupils) and no one strives for fancy outfits, clothing is practical and comfy... pupils sit cross legged on chairs if they wish (or on those exercise balls), they are outside loads during the day and work hard and in a focused way when inside... The context is very different to the UK, in so very many ways (not least because of the way everything else happens in society here) but it really does make you pause and think... I'll add more thoughts and pictures and information in future blog posts.
Yesterday and the day before were really sunny and I spent ages in the forest looking, exploring, photographing, listening, watching and wondering... There's so much to see and so many teeny amazing details in this vast landscape, its hard to know where to start looking! The fungi here are spectacular - more colours, textures, shapes and sizes than I have ever seen anywhere else. Not the easiest of things to get decent photos of - partly because it's quite dark in the forest (especially at the forest floor) and partly because lying on the forest floor invites the mosquitos to come and investigate... !
The birdsong has really pulled me in, the layers of sounds are wonderful, especially through the endless trees here. There are many birds which would be found in woodland in the UK but there are SO many other species here which are not found in the UK, as well as birds like redwing and fieldfare which arrive in the UK later in the autumn just for the winter. Because of the vastness of the forest and the way the light filters through - I keep catching glimpses of things moving just ahead of me through the trees and it really does feel like there are tiny creatures moving almost out of sight...
I've got a beautiful studio space here which I've begun to use, but equally the light outside is so wonderful that I envisage I'll be spending a lot of time between both spaces.
Rick Hall from Ignite is here too and we've had a great time working with the school here today. The Lab 13 projects are such important work and we are hoping to set links going between the school here and other Lab 13 projects, especially Nethergate Special School where I run sessions in Nottingham as well as other Lab 13 schools in the UK and in Ghana. I've also got "Mini Baxter" here with me - Baxter is the school dog at Nethergate and is a key part of the team there working with all pupils, so I've brought a small cuddly version with me to photograph is various places here and to send reports back to Nottingham.
I'm staying in an apartment and studio about the wonderful café bar of Kolin Ryynanen which has been hosting artists residencies here for many years (at least 10 years), organised by a dedicated group of local people. Koli is a really strong hub of artists and creative practitioners.
I've got so much more I want to document but for now here are a few of the hundreds of photos I've taken so far...
more to follow soon...