Suomi
Svenska
“The death of my parents brought forth mental connections to past generations, especially to my foremothers. Often, as the work progresses, a wild sensation of connection to the foremothers intensifies, and I no longer know what is real and what belongs to the otherworld. Organic patterns draw these connections ever deeper into the subconscious. Coincidences begin to carry the work into dreamlike interpretations,” Paula Suominen explains.
In Suominen’s large-scale charcoal drawings, many elements appear on paper and canvas as metaphors, while others remain hidden within the lines. Her materials come from nature: wood, paper, and linen. She says she has been drawing with charcoal for as long as she can remember. The coarse physicality and expressive power of charcoal offer a wide range of possibilities for the artist. With charcoal, one can “write everything through drawing.” Charcoal is a chemical element, found throughout nature: in the seas, the atmosphere, and the bedrock. It plays a vital role in the natural cycle, in altered or decomposed form. It is an ancient and versatile material, both in nature and as an artist’s tool.
Suominen is deeply influenced by the close relationship with nature found in old nature-based religions, where humans are part of nature and equal to other species. Local nature is known intimately, and sacred lands, trees, waters, or stones are protected.
“I still carry a thread-thin hope for humanity’s gentleness toward itself and other species. Life, in all its forms, is fragile and vulnerable, yet simultaneously strong and renewing—like human skin. I draw gentle lines to express empathy, not only for myself, but also for nature and other species. A connection to nature is a connection to one’s own body. A connection to foremothers. To the earth, to nature, to vanishing species and sacred places. This connection can always be found again,” Suominen says.
Paula Suominen lives and works in Turku and partly in Posio. She works broadly across the visual arts field, participating in traditional visual art as well as community, environmental, and public art projects. Her primary techniques include charcoal, oil painting, and for public artworks, ceramic mosaics and water-based mural paints.
Suominen’s works are included in the collections of, among others, the Aine Art Museum and the Rovaniemi Art Museum, as well as the cities of Turku and Schio (Italy), and the Central Hospital of Rovaniemi.