Tiina Laasonen: I Know a Tree that Grew Up

The exhibition deals with communal memory and observes a lifespan of a single tree in relation to the long continuum of time.

The works in the exhibition are made from wood collected through an open call: Local people in Seinäjoki, Lapua and Vaasa donated material for the artworks directly from their gardens. While collecting the pieces of wood for the art works, the artist took notes on the stories and memories the donators had on the material. The stories and memories later became central to the exhibition: they serve as the subject of the artworks as well as the starting point for the formal language of the exhibition.

The artist herself still remembers how she and her mother planted an apple tree in the garden cleared from the dandelion field. Years later, the mother gave Laasonen an apple tree branch cut by a storm, hoping that the brach could be turned into a work of art. In the end, the branch got a new life as Mother’s apple tree branch, an artwork on display in the exhibition.

Through her art as well as the process of working, Laasonen reflects on the emotional bond associated with trees, the way they connect to our memories, personal histories and identities.

Laasonen’s work combines traditional craftsmanship and woodworking techniques with contemporary sculpture. The working process is slow, silent and often repeating the same work phase. The large works follow the form that is familiar to Laasonen: they turn into wooden strips, knits and beads. The shapes symbolize continuity and unbrokenness in the chain of generations and time.

The rough and concrete architecture of Seinäjoki Kunsthalle exhibition space provides a contrasting background for the varying tones of different types of wood, the warmth and tenderness of the material.

Tiina Laasonen

Tiina Laasonen (b. 1968 Kauhava) lives and works in Seinäjoki. Laasonen graduated from Kankaanpää Art School as a sculptor in 1993. She has worked as an environmental artist and created several public works. Her works have been featured in numerous museum and gallery exhibitions in Finland and abroad, and her works belong to many museum and public collections. Laasonen has been awarded the Jaakkoo Cultural Award in 2019, the Ostrobothnia Art Council’s prize in 2017, and the Young Ostrobothnian Artist prize in 1997.

The artist’s work has been supported by the South Ostrobothnia Regional Fund, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.