Blog | Video trilogy Epilogue

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In old Slavic and Nordic ways of perceiving the world there was a firm belief of three planes of excistence; the heavens, ylinen, the earthly plane, keskinen, and the underworld, alinen. With each video I’m connecting with these different planes of alinen, keskinen, ylinen—and I’m in a dialogue with the small scale and the big picture.

Maybe this trilogy started already 10 years ago as I was returning back to Nordic grounds from my travels abroad? Maybe this trilogy started a lineage ago, as my grand moms and grand dads were having their dialogues and some of those dialogues remained unfinished? 

With this trilogy I’m having dialogues with my roots, with languages, with age old symbols, with elements. I’m celebrating nature. Nature, ‘luonto’, meaning here both the nature in and out. 

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In the first video, Pihani, a shaman is lamenting for her old home forest—and we travel through a heavily cut nature to a healthy nature. Cut forest is a dead forest, a healthy forest is a living one. Shaman assists the healing as we journey from death to life.
I start from under ground, with tear drops, and move from the underworlds through the river of sorrows, here, I’m in a dialogue with sorrow. ..Till I can feel the ground. I’m singing old folk poetry from Kanteletar, and I’m in a dialogue with the Karelian tradition of lamenting. I’m relating with sorrow; letting the tears flow until I’m ready.. Till I’m ready for death, as simultaneously being ready to be reborn.

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In the second video, Dollavárri, the camera is flying high in the air as I wake up from my unknown place. There’s my fire, and my car. Another day begins, and I drive and drive, until I walk. I’m awake, with my routines, getting to know this realm of earth, ground, living a loop in between the heavens and the underworld.
I’m in a dialogue with the belief that time is linear, though I know time is circular.
I’m drawing the Sápmi flag to the ground, being in a dialogue with earth connection and with change; humans have created nations by drawing invisible lines to the earth.. Though earth is sacred and knows no false ownership. I’m having a dialogue with the  awareness that the rights of indigenous peoples living, breathing and creating in the Nordic area need to be respected. I’m drawing a circle for all the protective circles that have been drawn through all times. I’m drawing a circle for all the mandalas ever drawn and crafted. I’m singing to the fire inside of me, to the fire inside of us all, and inside the big mountain of awareness; time to wake up.

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In the last video, Kevät, I’m in that area where my parents live, where I grew up. There’s a celebration, and by dancing, new strenght is drawn from the aether. Dancing, the most beautiful prayer, takes us to heavens; to that elevated place inside, where time melts and all elements unite. As the dance grows, I give and receive at the same time and I’m having a dialogue with joy, with memories.. I had a challenging relationship to my home town as I was growing up, being an odd one—but I always found strenght and power from the area’s nature; those clean waters, huge trees, forest all around. I thank the clean waters, the trees, those forests. And dance, dance, dance.. ..Re-writing the story.

Blog | Video trilogy Epilogue